Actelion has created a new start-up in the field of synthetic carbohydrate vaccines, together with the Max Planck Society. Actelion has made a funding commitment of up to €30M to back the new company, Vaxxilon.
Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger and his team at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces discovered the first preclinical candidates. An additional key component of the technology was jointly developed by Prof. Seeberger and Prof. Gennaro de Libero of the University Hospital of Basel.
Actelion the principal investor and majority shareholder, aims at translating the researchers’ work into prophylactic and therapeutic options. The Swiss biopharma will inject up to €30M in the newborn Vaxxilon, to be released in tranches over a period of three to four years. The company will be headquartered in Reinach, Switzerland, and a research facility will be established in Berlin
This investment represents an innovative way to find synergies between the academic and industrial worlds. Synthetic carbohydrate vaccines represent an exciting opportunity and have great potential. By creating Vaxxilon with the Max Planck Society, Actelion is building a platform from which these vaccines could become a commercial reality within the next decade.