Investment in novel vaccine enhancing technology

Biofusion is investing £240,000 in Adjuvantix, a Sheffield-based biopharmaceutical company focussed on novel technologies to enhance immune system responses to prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

The investment will be made in two parts, the first of which will take Biofusion's shareholding to 41%. The second phase is milestone dependent and, when fully invested, Biofusion's holding in Adjuvantix will be 49%.

Adjuvantix has developed a new approach to stimulate the immune system safely and increase the effectiveness of a wide range of vaccine antigens including proteins, peptides, polysaccharides and organic molecules and thus improve vaccines for any clinical application. The technology has the potential to improve drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases as well as infectious diseases such as TB infection and AIDS.

Studies of influenza and other model antigens have shown the technology capable of increasing antibody responses up to 1,000-fold. This capability would allow the development of vaccines against diseases where current technologies fail or where the immune system is weakened, for example in AIDS or after radio- or chemotherapy.

The technology developed by Adjuvantix also has the potential to overcome the limitations of existing adjuvant technologies which are effective in enhancing immune responses but can also cause unwanted local and systemic side effects, such as pain, redness, swelling and fever.

The new funds invested by Biofusion will be used to validate Adjuvantix's technology further and build a robust data package to attract pharmaceutical partners looking to co-develop products for clinical development and marketing.

Adjuvantix has filed four families of patent applications claiming adjuvant technology and aims to exploit this technology to develop adjuvant systems suited to a wide range of vaccine antigens, including proteins, peptides, polysaccharides and organic molecules.