Gaithersburg vaccine developer VLP Therapeutics Inc. has raised $21 million in a Series A-1 funding round, its second round this year, the company said in a press release Monday.
The latest round will be used to accelerate research and development of a cancer treatment vaccine, the company said, in addition to preventative malaria and dengue vaccines.
"We were fortunate enough to be able to raise funding in March to facilitate our cancer treatment vaccine R&D,” Wataru Akahata, VLP's co-founder, said in a release. “This additional funding will now allow us to further accelerate our other R&D efforts in [the] infectious diseases area as well.”
New investors Nobelpharma Co., and Japanese MUFG Bank (NYSE: MUFG) joined four current VLP investors: Japanese firms Sojitz Corporation and Miyako Capital Co. and Robert Hisaoka and SK Impact Fund of the U.S.
Akahata, a former National Institutes of Health senior scientist, founded VLP in 2013. A year later, he brought on Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. founders Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno as co-founders of VLP. Kuno and Ueno took their company Sucampo public in 2007 and then sold it for $1.2 billion in 2018. Ueno is VLP’s chair and chief medical officer.
The $21 million raise follows VLP's $16 million Series A round in March. At the same time, it announced the hiring of a new chief business officer, Miwa Toyoda, to advance its current projects and develop new ones.
A VLP subsidiary, VLP Therapeutics Japan, is simultaneously working on a Covid-19 vaccine using RNA technology. The subsidiary began a clinical trial of the vaccine in October, which Akahata said will require a smaller dose and allow for faster production than either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. It plans to start Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials next spring.
The Washington Business Journal reached out to VLP Therapeutics for further information and will update this story if we hear back.
