Funds pouring in for Qld needle-free patch invention
Funds have started to pour in for Brisbane-based medical technology company Vaxxas and its needle-free patch.
Vaxxas' needle-free vaccine patches have raised funding from Europe. Image: Supplied
Following $US34 million from a capital raising in December, a European organisation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has paid out $6.4 million to the company.
That followed $8 million from the Federal Government in September.
More than $US67 million ($A96 million) has been provided to Vaxxas under contracts with US and Australian government agencies, including US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), industry collaborators, and global health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Vaxxas is developing patch delivery technology which could lead to an end for the need to keep mRNA vaccines frozen.
The European funding from CEPI is for pre-clinical testing of the patch to assess its stability, safety and immunogenicity and to evaluate its potential as a rapid response technology.
CEPI chair Hane Halton said the Covid pandemic showed that access to vaccines must be at the heart of any pandemic response.
“Combining Vaxxas’ vaccine patch technology with the speed and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines could produce a tool that is not only suited as a rapid response platform for use against unknown pathogens, but could also serve as an additional means to get life-saving vaccines to the most vulnerable populations around the world,” Halton said.
Vaxxas chief executive David Hoey said the funding from CEPI was validation that the benefits of the Vaxxas technology in the fight against pandemic and epidemic threats.
He said the technology, along with mRNA vaccines, could also prove beneficial for the development of Vaxxas’ internal pipeline across a number of diseases, including Covid.
The patch technology allows for the delivery of the vaccines in seconds. Clinical research showed that it created a more efficient and effective immune response than traditional syringes due to the abundance of immune cells immediately below the surface of the skin.
The company said the technology, known as HD-MAP, had been validated in pre-clinical and human clinical settings.
