November 19, 2020 -- Particles for Humanity has secured a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which it plans to use to develop a single injection vaccine delivery technology.
The technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by Robert Langer, PhD, and Ana Jaklenec, PhD.
Single injection vaccine delivery releases two to 10 doses over different time points and could address the problem of lack of patient compliance with multiple vaccine dose appointments, the company said. It could improve the uptake of vaccines for HPV, hepatitis B, rabies, polio, malaria, and shingles, and could also help researchers develop new vaccines for diseases like HIV and COVID-19.
The company will use the funds to demonstrate the efficacy in animals using rabies as a model vaccine. The company's option agreement with MIT provides for evaluation of the technology and the option to negotiate for an exclusive global license to a wide variety of vaccines for infectious diseases, as well as a nonexclusive global license to vaccines for SARS-CoV-2.