Biotechnology Company Centivax Officially Launches

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centivax Inc. is proud to announce its launch on Jan. 1, 2021, as a fully independent biotechnology company developing broad-spectrum therapeutics and a vaccines portfolio, including indications in COVID-19, multi-drug resistant bacteria, influenza, antivenom and oncology. "Our unusually mature portfolio of fully owned Centivax assets has been made possible by advanced computational immunoengineering technology platforms and intellectual property that enable Centivax to rapidly create the broad-spectrum antibodies and broad-spectrum vaccines clearly needed in 21st-century medicine," says Dr. Jacob Glanville, Founder and CEO of Centivax. "It is these platforms that enable Centivax to enter clinical development of our first therapeutic within eight months of launch."

Founder and CEO Dr. Jacob Glanville announced the spin-out after the successful sale of his first company, Distributed Bio, to Charles River Laboratories for $83M in cash upfront and up to $104 million in total deal value. This amount is particularly noteworthy as Distributed Bio never took on traditional venture capital. "This announcement marks a new era to advance to the next step in our mission to develop broad-spectrum medicines to treat 21st-century diseases, including a convenient injectable therapeutic to treat and protect against the emerging strains of COVID-19, a broad-spectrum flu vaccine against all future versions of influenza, broad-spectrum anti-venom against all snakes, broad-spectrum anti-infectives, therapeutics against rapidly mutating cancers, and more," he said. "The spin-out means that we can completely focus on our therapeutic medicine programs, which allows us to progress more quickly."

Centivax portfolio programs benefit from broad governmental and institutional non-dilutive funding and support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (MIDRP), United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), and Charles River Laboratories. "These mission-aligned organizations enable rapid development of our portfolio while also providing valuable scientific and strategic intellectual partnership in their development," says Dr. David Gangemi, Co-Founder and Director of Virology at Centivax. 

The broad Centivax therapeutic portfolio of two programs entering clinical-stage development by August 2021 and 13 pre-clinical programs scheduled to complete pre-clinical and enter clinical development in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. The portfolio includes broad-spectrum vaccines and broadly neutralizing antibodies against rapidly mutating viruses including SARS-CoV-2, influenza and HIV; antibodies and vaccines against diverse and multi-drug resistant bacteria including MRSA, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas; therapeutic interventions for highly mutable cancers and immune-oncology targets; an optimized antibody against the auto-immune disorder target CXCR5; and broad-spectrum antibodies against the major toxins found in all snake venom. 

Centivax's platform technologies and intellectual property are focused on enabling the Centivax mission of improving the breadth, efficacy, manufacturing and global access to biologic medicines. Centivax's intellectual property and computational bioengineering platform technologies leverage computational immunoengineering to efficiently make breakthrough medicines that are optimized to provide a potent breadth of protection and engineered for mass manufacturing, injectable delivery, and broader global access. Distinct from the majority of monoclonal therapies, Centivax antibodies are engineered for high-concentration delivery and enhanced safety, enabling the therapies to be delivered as subcutaneous or intramuscular injections rather than IV infusions, thus greatly expanding their use outside of infusion centers at hospital systems and enabling the medicines to be more accessible. The Centivax technology platforms include broad intellectual property for broad-spectrum vaccine designs, technologies for broad-spectrum antibody engineering, technologies for high-concentration formulation engineering, and technologies for oncological, neurological, and autoimmune indications. Centivax continues to develop new platforms and intellectual property in computational immunoengineering of optimized therapeutics and has licensed access to CRL/Distributed Bio SuperHuman 2.0, Tungsten 1.0, SLiC lib, Tumbler and CAR-T display, and AbGenesis discovery platforms. 

Centivax is led by a veteran team of biomedicine developers and entrepreneurs. Dr. Glanville now leads Centivax as a successful veteran entrepreneur, able to focus solely on advancing Centivax's therapeutic programs. The team includes Dr. Sawsan Youssef, PhD., Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Centivax. Youssef previously led Pfizer's PD-1 injectable antibody therapeutic from discovery into clinical trials, resulting in the drug ("sasanlimab") being named after her. Dr. Pamela Garzone, Regulatory Affairs for Centivax, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Scripps Research Institute, and whose FDA interactions and clinical trial designs directly resulted in 21 successful IND submissions. Dr. David Gangemi, Ph.D., Co-founder of Centivax and Director of Virology, brings 35 years of experience in biomedical research, including working with the military's infectious disease research program. Dr. Nicholas Bayless, PhD, Co-founder of Centivax and Director of Translational Strategy, has several years of experience in advanced clinical trial design. Stephanie Wisner, MBA, Co-founder of Centivax and Director of Business Operations, has previously worked with over 15 scientific startups to develop commercialization strategy and complete capital raising, as well as several years in biotech venture capital. David Tsao, MS, Co-founder of Centivax and Director of Translational Pharmacology, has 16 years of industry experience in translational pharmacology for antibody therapeutics pre-clinical IND-enabling studies and manufacturing.     

Rapid pre-clinical and clinical development at Centivax is made possible by a broad panel of strategic partners. The GMP cell line was engineered by ATUM, while GMP/CMC manufacturing and process development were completed in partnership with Millipore Sigma. Xencor partnered with Centivax to license their half-life extension technology, while Charles River Laboratories supported safety and toxicology studies. Other important partners include Premier Research, who will conduct Centivax's clinical trial this summer, as well as Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing and Applied Biomath. Pre-clinical validation collaborations include USAMRIID, UTMB Galveston National Labs, Kim Lab at Stanford University, Temperton Lab at University of Kent, Sino Biological, Appel lab at Stanford University, Kwong lab at the NIH, Calgua lab at University of San Carlos, Ross lab at University of Georgia, Christinos lab at Auburn University, and the University of San Francisco Biotechnology PSM program. 

About Centivax
Centivax is a clinical stage company that leverages our computational bioengineering platforms to solve drugability and manufacturability problems of validated but challenging drug targets. Most of our targets are complex because of mutation diversity. Our broad therapeutic portfolio of two programs entering clinical stage development by August 2021 and 13 pre-clinical programs scheduled to complete pre-clinical and enter clinical development in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The portfolio includes broad-spectrum vaccines and broadly neutralizing antibodies to emerging infectious diseases and rapidly mutating viruses including SARS-CoV-2, influenza and HIV; antibodies and vaccines against diverse and multi-drug resistant bacteria including MRSA, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, and Acinetobacter; therapeutic interventions for highly mutable cancers and immune-oncology targets; an optimized antibody against the auto-immune disorder target CXCR5; and broad-spectrum antibodies against the major toxins found in all snake venom. 

Our competitive advantage is our intellectual property and engineering expertise in broad-spectrum vaccines and broadly neutralizing antibodies that can confront highly diverse targets, including emerging infectious pathogens. Our technologies have provided the means for both vaccines and antibodies to be delivered through highly convenient modes of injection, such as intramuscular and subcutaneous routes of administration in non-hospitalized settings.

Contact:
Press & Communications: [email protected] 
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For business-related matters please contact Stephanie Wisner: [email protected]  

SOURCE Centivax Inc.