Chiron Vaccines, a business unit of California-based Chiron Corporation, announces that it has spun out the powder injection DNA vaccine technology and related development programs it acquired as part of its 2003 acquisition of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals PLC to newly formed therapeutic vaccine company, PowderMed Ltd. PowderMed is led by PowderJect's former head of R&D, Dr. Clive Dix, and a number of its former senior R&D managers.
Under the terms of the agreement, PowderMed's backers, the leading venture capital companies Schroder Ventures Life Sciences, Advent Venture Partners, Abingworth Management Ltd. and Oxford Bioscience Partners, will invest 20 million pounds Sterling in the new company to progress the development of therapeutic DNA vaccines based on the powder injection technology. Chiron Vaccines will retain a minority equity stake in PowderMed as consideration for the transferred technology. The DNA vaccine programs will be based in PowderMed's development facility, which is located in the former PowderJect development laboratories in Oxford, U.K. As part of the transaction Chiron Vaccines will transfer the lease on the Oxford development facilities, and a number of scientists located at the site, to PowderMed.
"We believe that powder injection has great potential as a novel vaccine delivery technique," said John Lambert, president of Chiron Vaccines. "Although the technology platform does not fit with Chiron Vaccines' R&D pipeline, we are pleased that its development will continue under the stewardship of PowderMed, with its experienced management team and first class financial backers."
PowderMed will focus its development expertise on the therapeutic DNA vaccine collaborations with GlaxoSmithKline, particularly in the HIV field, and with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in the field of lung cancer. PowderMed will also progress an in-house therapeutic DNA vaccine program for genital herpes, for which Chiron Vaccines will retain an option to market the product in the United States.
Commenting on the agreement with Chiron Vaccines, Dr. Clive Dix, chief executive of PowderMed, said, "We are very excited to be progressing the powder injection vaccine technology. The PowderMed team are highly experienced development scientists who have worked with the technology for many years, and are therefore well placed to drive these therapeutic DNA vaccine programmes to market. Numerous studies have shown that by accurately targeting the immune cells of the skin, powder injection offers the prospect of a step change in the field of therapeutic vaccines. PowderMed is focused on building on this solid clinical foundation to rapidly develop a number of life-saving treatments."