Emergex Vaccines Raises US$11 million to Advance Pipeline of Synthetic T-Cell Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

PRESS RELEASE

Emergex Vaccines Raises US$11 million to Advance Pipeline of Synthetic T-Cell Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

• Investor support further endorsement of vaccine development strategy
• Novel approach to vaccine development could address urgent global need for safe, effective vaccines that can be rapidly developed and deployed

Abingdon, Oxon, UK, 18 November 2020 – Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited (‘Emergex’), a company tackling major global infectious disease threats through the development of synthetic ‘set point’ vaccines which prime the T-cell immune response, today announces that it has raised $11 million in a funding round supported by new and existing investors. This round follows a successful $11 million Series A completed in January 2020.

The proceeds of this funding round will, among other things, enable Emergex to further advance and execute its vaccine development strategy, producing vaccine candidates for some of the world’s most threatening and virulent diseases such as COVID-19, Dengue Fever and pandemic flu.

Emergex’s next generation vaccines have been designed to expand the body’s natural immune response by programing CD8+ T-cells to rapidly recognise and respond to pathogens. This approach is aimed at providing effective prevention of disease while eliminating the allergic, autoimmune or antibody mediated side effects associated with traditional vaccines. Emergex’s vaccines are 100% synthetic – requiring no biology for manufacturing – thus having the potential to be rapidly produced and cost-effectively scaled. They are delivered through a microneedle system which allows for convenient administration and require no cold chain in storage or distribution.

Storme Moore-Thornicroft, co-founder and COO of Emergex, commented: “The current COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing threat of pandemic flu and the global challenge of Dengue Fever demonstrate the urgent need to rethink traditional approaches to vaccine development. This new funding round demonstrates our investors’ confidence in the Company to meet that need and belief that our unique technology can play a critical role, creating safe, effective vaccines that can be rapidly developed and deployed.

“We welcome our new investors to the Company and appreciate the continued support of our existing investors and look forward to rapidly advancing the clinical development of our novel vaccine candidates.”

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About Emergex

Emergex, a UK-based biotechnology company headquartered in Abingdon, UK, is pioneering the development of synthetic ‘set point’ vaccines which prime the T-cell immune response to address some of the world’s most immediate health threats such as COVID-19, Dengue Fever, Zika, Ebola, pandemic flu and serious intra-cellular bacterial infections.

These set-point vaccines modify the initial immune status of recipients in a way that ‘primes’ their immune systems to recognise subsequent infectious agents much like a natural infection would do, preventing an acute or severe manifestation of the disease.

Emergex combines validated technologies together with the very latest scientific insights to develop its vaccines, including using synthetic peptide codes determined on actual infected cells and using a proprietary gold nanoparticle carrier system for programming.

The Company has a growing pipeline of vaccine candidates. The most advanced development programme is a vaccine for Dengue Fever, which may also be disease modifying for other Flaviviruses such as the Zika and Yellow Fever viruses. Emergex also has programmes in development for a universal Influenza vaccine and a universal Filovirus vaccine (including viruses such as Ebola and Marburg) and discovery programmes for a Yellow Fever Booster vaccine and a Chikungunya vaccine.

Emergex has partnered with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of Singapore to develop a vaccine for the emerging threat of Hand, Foot and Mouth (HFM) disease and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation ‘Fiocruz’ for the development of viral vaccines. This initially covers the development of a vaccine that universally targets diseases within the flavivirus family such as Dengue Fever, Zika and Yellow Fever but could be expanded to include the development of vaccines to target other viral families that are endemic to the region.

Find out more online at www.emergexvaccines.com.