Centivax Secures $45 Million Series A to Advance Universal Flu Vaccine Towards Clinical Trials

Centivax, a biotechnology firm focused on durable and universal vaccines, has successfully closed an oversubscribed $45 million Series A funding round. The investment was led by Steve Jurvetson's Future Ventures, with participation from NFX, BOLD Capital, Base4, Kendall Capital Partners, Amplify Bio, and existing investors. This significant capital infusion is earmarked to propel Centivax's universal flu vaccine candidate into Phase I clinical trials and expand its broader universal immunity portfolio.

Jacob Glanville, Founder and CEO of Centivax, highlighted the transformative potential of their universal flu vaccine. "We're aiming for 85-95% efficacy and that's a big deal," Glanville stated, addressing a critical challenge in current seasonal flu vaccines. He further emphasized the impact on public trust, noting, "The big problem with vaccine skepticism is when people get the shot and they still get sick. You can solve that."

Centivax's innovative approach, known as "epitope-focusing technology," distinguishes it from conventional vaccine development. Instead of targeting rapidly mutating surface proteins, their method focuses the immune response on highly conserved regions of viruses that are less prone to change. This strategy, developed from Glanville's previous work at Distributed Bio, involves encoding multiple diverse flu proteins from the past century, delivered via mRNA, at sub-threshold doses to selectively activate B cells recognizing these conserved sites.

The company plans to use the Series A funds to advance its lead universal flu vaccine candidate through CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) development and into Phase I human trials within the next eight months. This move underscores a critical step towards realizing a vaccine that could offer protection against all human-adapted strains of influenza A and B, eliminating the need for annual reformulations. Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures expressed strong confidence in Centivax, stating his long-standing quest for a credible antiviral breakthrough.

Glanville envisions a future where such broad-spectrum vaccines fundamentally alter global health dynamics. "The more profound thing is when you start distributing a vaccine like this around the world, the pandemic era is over," he remarked, emphasizing the potential to mitigate future pandemic threats. Centivax's platform technology is also being explored for its applicability across other rapidly mutating pathogens, including RSV/hMPV, herpesviruses, HIV, and malaria, positioning the company as a key player in the pursuit of universal protection against complex immunological challenges.