Evaxion Biotech Launches New AI Powered Platform to Enable Faster Response to Emerging Viral Pandemics
Evaxion Biotech recently announced it has received approximately $800,000 in funding from Innovation Fund Denmark for the development of its new RAVEN platform, an integral part of Evaxion’s Adaptive and Intelligent Vaccine for a Rapid Response against Corona Viruses (AICoV) program.
RAVEN combines elements from Evaxion’s proprietary core artificial intelligence (AI) immunotherapy discovery platforms to select the best targets for vaccine development to respond rapidly to emerging viral diseases. By combining structural design tools and prediction algorithms, RAVEN will be able to produce a potent vaccine design that induces both a T-cell and B-cell response. This unique design is then integrated in Evaxion proprietary DNA delivery and manufacturing technology, allowing a potential turn-around from initial target discovery to first human dose in only 13 weeks.
Lars Wegner, CEO of Evaxion, said “We now all know the potential impact and cost of a disease that seemingly comes out of nowhere and spreads around the world. This funding from Innovation Fund Denmark will enable Evaxion to develop our RAVEN platform so we can respond faster to future pandemics, quickly identifying novel vaccine candidates that can be rapidly advanced into clinical development, based on our unique manufacturing process.”
Evaxion intends to pursue proof-of-concept in mice for the RAVEN platform in COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) while showcasing the platform’s adaptability by applying it to SARS (SARS-CoV-1) as well. If the data from the proof-of-concept study is supportive, Evaxion will consider developing a COVID-19 vaccine. The main aim of the RAVEN platform is to prepare Evaxion to respond rapidly to future emerging viral pandemics.
Innovation Fund Denmark is a Danish state agency that invests in entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses that create value for Denmark and new solutions to society’s challenges.
Evaxion Biotech is an AI-driven clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on discovering and developing novel drugs to treat cancer and infectious disease using immuno-informatics. The company leverages two unique and highly scalable AI platforms, with the potential to rapidly generate multiple unique immunotherapy programs. Its lead program EVX-01 is a personalized peptide immunotherapy, targeting neoepitopes in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and bladder cancer currently in active clinical development. Evaxion’s second immunology oncology program (EVX-02) has entered clinical development in Australia, targeting restable melanoma.
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