Vaccitech, a UK-based biotechnology spinout of University of Oxford, raised £20m ($27.1m) in a series A round today co-led by university venturing fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI).
GV, the early-stage corporate venturing unit of diversified conglomerate Alphabet, and venture capital firm Sequoia China co-led the round, which also featured Neptune Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Vaccitech is working on a universal flu vaccine and other vaccine-related products that induce cellular immune responses by relying on non-replicating viral vectors for treatment or disease prevention.
The company has six products in development, with its flu vaccine currently undergoing a phase 2b trial. A prostate cancer therapeutic is currently in a phase 1 study and is set to enter a phase 2 trial for metastatic prostate cancer in the coming months.
The spinout is also working on a prophylactic for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (commonly known as Mers) and vaccines for Human Papillomavirus (also known as HPV) and hepatitis B.
The platform is based on research by Adrian Hill, professor of human genetics and director of the Jenner Institute, and Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the Jenner Institute.
Vaccitech will use the series A round to expand its business, build out its laboratory and advance its flu and prostate cancer vaccines through phase 2 trials by the end of 2019. The spinout will also launch clinical trials for three additional programs.
Pierre Morgon, an expert in the field of vaccines whose résumé include positions with biotech firm Mérieux Développement and vaccine developer Virometrix, has joined the board of directors.
Vaccitech previously raised $14.5m in a seed round in 2016 backed by OSI, Invesco, Landsdowne and Woodford Investment Management.
Tom Evans, chief executive at Vaccitech, said: “When you look at the 250 million people chronically infected with hepatitis B globally, or the number of people killed by the flu each year, it becomes clear just how much potential impact Vaccitech’s portfolio of vaccine products could have on the world.
“You add Oxford into the mix, where you have unprecedented ability to do advance products through outstanding vaccine science and tremendous translational medicine capability, and Vaccitech is clearly well positioned to have an important impact on global health.”
Tom Hulme, general partner at GV, said: “Vaccitech’s world class team have achieved an incredible amount with relatively little funding to date – the T-cell responses to the company’s viral vector platform are among the highest that have been achieved in man – we look forward to it being applied to tackle multiple human diseases.”
