Centivax, Inc., a biotechnology company engineering vaccines and therapies for durable, universal protection against highly diverse targets, has officially raised a sum of $45 million in Series A financing.
Led by Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures, an early backer of Tesla, SpaceX, Prellis Biologics, Cambrian Bio, and others, the round saw further participation coming from the likes of NFX, BOLD Capital Partners, Base4 Capital, Kendall Capital Partners, Amplify Partners, and other investors. Apart from them, existing insiders would also go on to increase their ownership.
“Future Ventures is proud to lead Centivax’s Series A with a great syndicate of co-investors,” said Steve Jurvetson, leading investor in the round. “I have been on a quest to find a credible antiviral breakthrough for over 20 years. I first became enamored with the prospect of a universal vaccine via our philanthropy. Centivax has developed a universal shot for all forms of flu, and they have already demonstrated their universal immunity platforms in other areas, including universal antivenom. Their unique approach will hopefully lead to a historic transition to a post-pandemic era for humanity.”
According to the reports, this particular round is likely to fund Centivax’s first clinical candidate, which happens to be a universal flu vaccine currently in CMC development. You see, the company will dedicate the funds to conduct a Phase I clinical trial planned to go live within eight months.
While safety remains its chief focus, the study will also measure correlate-of-protection efficacy through gold-standard hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay against a panel of more than twenty flu strains. These strains include current 2024-2025 circulating strains, historical mismatch strains, and pandemic strains, in a direct head-to-head comparison with existing standard-of-care flu vaccines.
Now, as the HAI assay is the same correlate-of-protection used to license seasonal flu vaccines, positive data should provide a clear benchmark, and therefore, showcase the candidate’s ability to deliver broad protection with a single vaccine.
“The Phase I trial gives us the opportunity to prove the Centivax platform technology works,” said Dr. Jerald Sadoff, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Centivax. “We can demonstrate that the Centivax technology directs the immune system to focus on regions of pathogens that do not change across strains. This is valuable not just in flu, but for all rapidly mutating pathogens and other difficult targets in our portfolio. In preclinical studies in ferrets, pigs, cows, mice, rats, and human immune organoids, the Centivax technology consistently induced universal immunity to all tested influenza viruses, including the 2024-2025 H5N1 “bird flu.”
Apart from its flagship universal-flu program, Centivax’s epitope-focusing platform will also leverage the new cash inflow to support a growing pipeline for RSV/hMPV, herpesviruses, HIV, malaria, oncology, as well as a universal antivenom which was recently published in Cell and covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Nature, and other outlets.
This, in particular, will broaden Centivax’s potential in the context of going beyond treating wide array of infectious diseases–including viral, bacterial, protozoan, fungal, parasitic and man-made bioterror threats. Instead, the company will be able to improve healthspan by reducing the long-term complications such pathogens can trigger. For instance, the stated list of complications includes cancer, autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disease etc..
“The Phase I trial gives us the opportunity to prove the Centivax platform technology works,” said Sadoff. “We can demonstrate that the Centivax technology directs the immune system to focus on regions of pathogens that do not change across strains. This is valuable not just in flu, but for all rapidly mutating pathogens and other difficult targets in our portfolio.” In preclinical studies in ferrets, pigs, cows, mice, rats, and human immune organoids, the Centivax technology consistently induced universal immunity to all tested influenza viruses, including the 2024-2025 H5N1 “bird flu.”
Among other things, it ought to be acknowledged that, alongside its latest raise, Centivax has secured $24 million till date in competitive, non-dilutive awards, beginning with a $2 million “Grand Challenge: End the Pandemic Threat” grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Joining that would be awards from CEPI, the National Institutes of Health, the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Command, and others
