Affinivax Raises $120M in Series B Funding

affinivax

Affinivax, Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical stage biotechnology company with a novel Multiple Antigen Presentation System (MAPS) technology platform for vaccines and immunotherapies, completed a $120m Series B financing.

The round was led by Viking Global Investors with participation from Bain Capital Life Sciences and Ziff Capital Partners. 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.

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.

Led by Steven B. Brugger, CEO, Affinivax is advancing its lead vaccine targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae (ASP3772, partnered with Astellas Pharma), which includes 24 pneumococcal serotypes. 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. The clinical program for ASP3772 is expected to expand to include an infant indication.

In addition to targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae, the company is advancing a pipeline of MAPS vaccines targeting the most common hospital-associated infections (HAIs), and is also extending the utility of MAPS to a range of other potential applications, including vaccines and immunotherapies targeting viral diseases and cancer.

FinSMEs

23/04/2020

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