UK-based synthetic biology company Prokarium raised $10m in a series B round yesterday led by Riyadh Valley Company, the venture capital arm of King Saud University.
The round also included venture capital firms Flerie Invest and Korea Investment Partners.
Founded in 2007, Prokarium has developed a vaccine delivery platform called Vaxonella. Patients swallow a product containing microbes that produce vaccines from within the body’s own immune cells, offering minimal side effects and being more cost efficient than injections.
The approach also means Vaxonella can target diseases that have so far proven difficult to prevent. Additionally, the vaccines remain stable at 40 degrees Celsius for up to 12 weeks, allowing the products to be easily transported to remote locations.
The company’s pipeline includes a vaccine against the plague, which is due to enter a phase 1 trial.
The funding will go towards the clinical development of vaccines against chlamydia, and clostridium difficile – a bacterium that can attack the human gut and causes diarrhoea – as well as typhoid and paratyphoid.
The money will also help Prokarium expand its team, including recruiting a new head of immuno-oncology research and a vice-president of business development.
Prokarium was spun out of contract development and manufacturing organisation Cobra Biologics, itself founded out of Keele University’s Science and Innovation Park.
The company has not disclosed details about previous equity funding, though it identified Flerie Invest as an existing shareholder.
Khalid Al-Saleh, chief executive of Riyadh Valley Company, has joined the board of directors. He said: “Prokarium’s team have developed a unique technology that can solve many issues with vaccine efficacy and delivery.
“We believe their expertise in synthetic biology, coupled with the need for easily accessible childhood vaccines in emerging markets and the growing adult vaccine market globally, will allow Prokarium to expand into many new areas in the coming years.”
