Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Limited (“ITS”), one of the leading
developers of synthetic vaccines for mutating viruses, today announced
it had secured a Series-A equity funding round extension for £8.65m
which brings the total Series A financing to £13.15m. The company’s key
investors HealthCap (Sweden), London Technology Fund (UK), Novartis
Venture Fund (US & Basel) and Truffle Capital (France) are all
participating. The round will be kept open until mid-2010 for new
potential investors to invest.
“We
believe strongly in the need to enhance T-cell immunity in vaccinology,
and we are delighted that ITS is advancing its unique technology and
lead program to clinical validation.”
This funding will progress ITS’s lead candidate FP-01 through to the
completion of phase-II proof of concept efficacy studies. This vaccine
holds the promise of being able to target all potential seasonal and
pandemic influenza strains and protect people from severe influenza
disease. The synthetic and thermostable FP-01 vaccine would offer a new
paradigm in flu vaccine supply and could represent a major breakthrough
to Governments wishing to create long-term vaccine stockpiles.
Carlton Brown, CEO of ITS, commented: “This round of financing will
allow the company to evaluate its flu vaccine product candidate in phase
I and Phase II clinical trials and assess the vaccine safety and
preliminary efficacy against multiple influenza virus strains”.
Ken Powell, ITS’s Chairman commented: “This sound support of ITS and its
exciting clinical programmes shows that there is funding available for
high quality teams and projects in 2010 and should give encouragement to
other UK biotechnology companies”.