Immunethep

First vaccine in the world to prevent multiple bacterial infections

Investment overview

Impact category

Social economy

Investment type

Loan

Yearly interest

6.25

Term

months

Risk level

C+

Immunethep is developing broad-coverage anti-bacterial immunotherapies targeting a novel virulence mechanism used by different pathogenic bacteria that allows them to cause the infection.

Their most advanced product is the Paragon Novel Vaccine (PNV), the first Vaccine in the world that simultaneously prevents infections from 5 of the most critical bacteria for mankind (S.aureus, S.pneumoniae, K.pneumoniae, E.coli, and S.agalactiae) which greatly reduces the need for antibiotics contributing to reducing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The funding raised through this campaign will enable Immunethep to speed up the procedures to start the clinical trials of PNV, thus shortening the time for this vaccine to be available in the market.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is leading to an uncontrolled rise of superbugs. This global threat kills around 1.27 million people annually and is estimated to increase 8-fold by 2050, reaching 10 million yearly deaths. Today AMR costs around $30 billion a year to the EU and USA health systems.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease and Control Prevention), the five bacteria addressed by PNV are responsible for 80% of all life-threatening human infections. The therapies used to fight superbugs are antibiotics (treatment) and vaccines (prevention). The antibiotics are increasingly less effective (four of the bacteria mentioned are highly resistant to antibiotics) and contribute to AMR growth.

Immunethep has successfully concluded the preclinical trials with PNV. The promotor is now looking for funding to test further. A significant part of that funding is already assured with the support of a 2.5 million euro grant awarded to Immunethep by the European Innovation Council.

PNV will become the first ever multiple bacteria vaccine in the world to enter human clinical trials. This has been recently acknowledged by the World Health Organization in its report on Bacterial vaccines in clinical and preclinical development.

What is the impact?

Direct

Support of worldwide health with the research and development of vaccines: with the funding, Immunethep will be able to bring their innovative vaccine Paragon Novel Vaccine (PNV) to the step of human studies. This vaccine would be able to prevent infections from 5 critical bacteria (S.aureus, S.pneumoniae, K.pneumoniae, E.coli and S.agalactiae) that are linked to life-threatening infections in humans.

The use of the vaccine in the prevention of these bacterial diseases greatly reduces the need for antibiotics in the treatment, which contributes to reducing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Indirect

Access to essential vaccines: the vaccine under development protects against all the serotypes of the bacteria worldwide and doesn’t require a cold chain distribution as the formulation is stable even at elevated temperatures. This makes the vaccine widely implementable in many different contexts and conditions of storage (particularly relevant for Low and Middle-Income Countries).
Promotion of innovation: The entrance of the PNV in the stage of human studies makes it the first ever multiple bacteria vaccine in the world to enter human clinical trials.

Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals
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About the Promoter

About

IMMUNETHEP, SA

Immunethep is a Portuguese company that stands out for its ability to develop vaccines in collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies tackling central global issues. To date, the promotor has already developed two vaccines based on internal scientific knowledge, with successful pre-clinical trials:

PNV (an anti-bacterial vaccine that prevents infections, greatly reducing AMR),
SILBA (SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to prevent COVID-19).

Immunethep was founded in October 2013 by Pedro Madureira and Venture Catalysts. Pedro Madureira (Ph.D.) is a remarkable researcher that developed his previous work at the University of Porto to understand how bacteria were able to overcome our immune system and cause infections, discovering and describing in detail the virulence used by the bacteria that is targeted by Immunethep Immunotherapies. Venture Catalysts is a company that supports entrepreneurs by integrating startups as resident entrepreneurs. They cover management, financial, and business development solutions for start-ups.

Immunethep is located in Cantanhede at the Biocant Park, where they found ideal conditions to start the independent immunotherapies development. They aim to save millions of lives by preventing infections from five of the most life-threatening bacteria globally.

Immunethep has a team of 10 people and they are currently, they are looking to double this number to step into the first tests in humans, get regulatory approval for its most developed product (PNV), and keep developing therapeutic immunotherapy UNImAb.

Immunethep is a recognized industry player. They collaborate with two major pharmaceutical companies and collaborate with organizations like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Promoter website

www.immunethep.com

Team
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[{"id":65,"promoter_id":278,"name":"Bruno Santos","description":"Bruno Santos, M.Eng, MBA – Co-founder and CEO at Immunethep. Bruno has a background in Biological Engineering and over 10 years of experience in Consulting, Quality and Continuous Improvement Engineering in high-tech industries. He is a co-founder of Venture Catalysts, a company focused on the creation of start-ups based on scientific projects and supports visionary researchers and entrepreneurs. Bruno adds the complementary business and entrepreneurial expertise required, having done the whole cycle from creation to exit.","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunommsantos/","role":"CEO","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/63a/c23/f66/63ac23f66b17e027030966.jpg","avatar_id":74475},{"id":66,"promoter_id":278,"name":"Marta Vieira","description":"P.h.D in Biomedical Sciences from Universidade do Porto, Marta has over ten years of experience in the field of research and joined the Immunethep team seven years ago.","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-vieira-6588a9125/","role":"Head of Research","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/63a/c24/3a4/63ac243a4d211102964553.jpg","avatar_id":74476},{"id":67,"promoter_id":278,"name":"Pedro Madureira","description":"Pedro Madureira, PhD - Co-founder and CSO at Immunethep. Pedro is the lead discoverer of immunosuppressive molecules excreted by bacterial pathogens. This research is the basis for the immunotherapies that are being developed at Immunethep. Furthermore, he is the inventor of a European Patent Application concerning this vaccine in June 2014.","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedro-madureira-8812039a/","role":"CSO","member_photo":"https://991934249232-prod-octobercms-public-storage.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/63a/c61/a8e/63ac61a8eef34689781564.jpg","avatar_id":74518}]

Business Model
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