This represents the first financing round to be completed since the company’s founding in June 2014, when Affinivax received an initial seed and Series A equity investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has leveraged the initial investment, non-dilutive grant funding, and a partnership with Astellas Pharma to advance its novel Multiple Antigen Presentation System (“MAPS”) vaccine technology into clinical trials. Proceeds from the Series B financing will be used to continue advancing the company’s MAPS pneumococcal vaccine program and to advance several additional vaccine candidates targeting hospital-associated infections (HAIs) into clinical studies.
“We are very pleased to welcome such a strong syndicate of new investors to Affinivax and look forward to benefiting from their deep experience,” said Steven B. Brugger, CEO of Affinivax. “Having built the company to over 70 employees and advanced MAPS into clinical testing in less than 5 years, we are very excited to look ahead to our next phase of growth, taking our lead pneumococcal vaccine through Phase 3 testing and bringing several additional novel MAPS vaccines and immunotherapies into clinical trials.”
Concurrent with the Series B financing, Andrew Hack, MD, PhD, and Steven Altschuler, MD, have joined Affinivax’s Board of Directors. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Dr. Hack was the Chief Financial Officer of Editas Medicine, and a portfolio manager at Millennium Management. Prior to joining Ziff Capital, Dr. Altschuler was the founder and chairman of Spark Therapeutics, and the CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“The Affinivax team is addressing a critical public health need with a novel and creative approach,” said Dr. Hack, a Managing Director of Bain Capital Life Sciences. “As our team seeks to invest in breakthrough technologies with the potential to improve patient health around the world, we were impressed by the approach and progress made by the Affinivax team and look forward to helping advance its pipeline of innovative vaccines into clinical trials.”
“With the ongoing increase in the global health threat posed by a broad range of infectious diseases, new prevention strategies to combat disease are more important than ever,” said Dr. Altschuler, Managing Director of Ziff Capital Partners. “We believe Affinivax’s novel MAPS vaccine technology with its promise for broad protection can play a key role in the prevention of serious infectious diseases.”
Affinivax’s lead vaccine targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae (ASP3772, partnered with Astellas Pharma) includes 24 pneumococcal serotypes, more than any other vaccine on the market or in clinical testing today. ASP3772 is currently being studied in pneumococcal infection in elderly adults, its initial indication, in an ongoing Phase 2 study that is nearing completion. In a previously completed Phase 1 study, ASP3772 was demonstrated to be safe and highly immunogenic in healthy adults. These studies are listed on Clinicaltrials.gov. The clinical program for ASP3772 is expected to expand to include an infant indication. Affinivax recognizes the ongoing need to increase protection against new, emerging pneumococcal serotypes and will continue to focus on developing additional pneumococcal MAPS vaccines designed to prevent against an even greater number of serotypes.
With the significant increase in antimicrobial resistance now creating a global health challenge in medical care facilities today, Affinivax’s pipeline includes MAPS vaccine candidates targeting the most prevalent HAIs. The effectiveness and availability of antibiotics against these serious bacterial infections remains very limited, and while prevention strategies would have the greatest impact, there are no effective vaccines against HAIs available today. Addressing antimicrobial resistance head-on, Affinivax is advancing several first-in-class MAPS vaccines targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (through a research partnership with Astellas Pharma), Clostridium difficile, and Staphylococcus aureus.
Source: Company Press Release