A UK biotech company developing a universal flu vaccine has attracted multi-million pound backing.
Vaccitech, a spin-out from Oxford University, announced this week £20 million in new financing from investors including Sequoia China and GV.
The biotech is currently half way through a two-year trial, which 862 are taking part in, to test its ‘universal influenza vaccine’.
“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 (there are up to 500,000 deaths annually), 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,” said Tom Evans, Chief Executive Officer at Vaccitech.
