Adelaide, Australia, 18 January 2019 – GPN Vaccines, a vaccine development company focussed on the prevention of diseases caused by the world’s foremost bacterial pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae, has raised AUD$1.1 million (USD$0.8 million) towards development of its proprietary vaccine, Gamma-PN.
The investment round included strong support from existing shareholders as well as new sophisticated and accredited investors from the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The capital raising provides funds that will be used along side a number of grants that were awarded to GPN Vaccines in 2018, including a $1 million Development Grant from the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (awarded in conjunction with the University of Adelaide) and a $0.3M Early Commercialisation Grant from the South Australian Government.
The money raised will be used to progress preclinical evaluation of Gamma-PN including toxicity studies as well as the scale-up clinical grade manufacture of the vaccine in readiness for testing in a first-in-human clinical trial.
Professor Tim Hirst, Chairman & CEO of GPN Vaccines, commented, “We are delighted by the rapid progress being made by GPN since its incorporation 16 months ago, which is testament to the capabilities of our team and external partners, and we appreciate the strong support of our existing and new investors. This capital raising puts GPN in a very strong position, enabling us to rapidly progress our Gamma-PN vaccine development program, and comes at a time of increasing recognition that new approaches are urgently needed to prevent pneumococcal disease”.
Barry Palte, Executive Director, said, “The success of GPN’s capital raising round in securing international interest from sophisticated and accredited investors highlights the attractiveness of the company’s technology in addressing a major global challenge in infectious disease”.
About GPN Vaccines
GPN Vaccines is a private biotechnology company developing a vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae which is responsible for causing life-threatening pneumonia, bacteraemia and meningitis, as well as otitis media (middle ear infections). Each year it causes 1-2 million deaths worldwide, killing more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. There are now 98 different serotypes of S. pneumoniae and the best vaccine currently on the market only protects against 13 of them. Gamma-PN – GPN Vaccines’ new S. pneumoniae vaccine is being developed to protect children and adults against all S. pneumoniae strains, regardless of strain serotype.
