Affinivax, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of a novel class of vaccines with its MAPS™ (Multiple Antigen Presenting System) platform, closed a $226m Series C financing.
The round was co-led by new investors Rock Springs Capital and Foresite Capital. Additional new investors included T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, funds and accounts managed by Blackrock, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Advisors, EcoR1 Capital, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) and Logos Capital, who were joined by existing investors Viking Global Investors, Bain Capital Life Sciences and Ziff Capital Healthcare Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to continue advancing its MAPS vaccine pipeline for a range of infectious diseases, including its lead pneumococcal vaccine candidates and vaccine candidates targeting healthcare-associated infections where previous vaccine approaches have not been successful.
Led by Steven B. Brugger, CEO, Affinivax leverages a novel and proprietary MAPS technology platform designed to enable the development of a new class of vaccines that induce a broad and protective immune response to two key immunogenic components – disease-relevant polysaccharides and disease-relevant proteins – in a single vaccine. Licensed from Boston Children’s Hospital, MAPS utilizes a patented biotin-rhizavidin binding approach to enable vaccine design and development. MAPS vaccines are designed to provide a protective immune response to both the polysaccharide and protein components.
Affinivax’s lead vaccine candidate, ASP3772, is a Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine that is being co-developed in collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc. ASP3772 includes 24 pneumococcal polysaccharides, more than any other vaccine on the market or in clinical trials today, as well as two conserved pneumococcal proteins.
FinSMEs
08/01/2020