Development of new HIV vaccine

Through its i-Funding service, Innovayt has helped SKAU Vaccines, a biotech SME from Aarhus, Denmark, to acquire funding from the Eurostars programme to develop an HIV vaccine. Eurostars is a programme targeting R&D intensive SMEs looking for funding for projects with European partners. The funded HIVAC project commenced in May 2010 and will run for three years, gathering renowned partners also from Germany and Sweden.

SKAU Vaccines expect that the HIVAC project will result in the development of the first preventive HIV vaccine that combines superior safety with an immune protection level that meets regulatory and market requirements, reaching phase-I trials 12 months after the project ends. The project will be using a novel approach of unmasking the immunosuppressive properties of the HIV envelope by introduction of rationally designed mutations.

Besides the available vaccine stock for human trials, the HIVAC concept will become a new development platform, which could set the standard for general vaccine development and generate various patentable tools and methods that could be used for numerous other kinds of vaccines.