Date: 2016-01-12
Type of information: Grant
Company: Valera, a Moderna Therapeutics' venture (USA - MA)
Investors: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Amount: up to $20 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used: This grant is part of a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance the development of a novel, affordable combination of mRNA-based antibody therapeutics to help prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The development efforts will be led by Valera, Moderna’s infectious disease-focused venture. The funding will be used to support Moderna’s evaluation of the antibody combination in a preclinical setting as well as the conduct of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study.
Others: * On January 12, 2016, Moderna Therapeutics announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance the development of a novel, affordable combination of mRNA-based antibody therapeutics to help prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The development efforts will be led by Valera, Moderna’s infectious disease-focused venture. Valera, a Moderna venture, is focused exclusively on the advancement of vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Valera is leveraging Moderna’s messenger RNA Therapeutics™ platform, an entirely new in vivo drug technology that produces human proteins, antibodies and entirely novel protein constructs inside patient cells, which are in turn secreted or active intracellularly. The Gates Foundation has committed up to $20 million in grant funding to support Moderna’s evaluation of the antibody combination in a preclinical setting as well as the conduct of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study. Through an agreement between the two organizations, there may be potential for follow-on projects of up to $100 million total (including the HIV antibody project) to support the development of additional mRNA-based projects for various infectious diseases.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
