UK-based synthetic biology company, Prokarium, has completed an investment round, raising $10 million for the clinical development of vaccines against chlamydia, C.difficile and enteric fever, in addition to an expansion for the immune-oncology R&D team.
This financing round was led by Riyadh Valley Company, followed by Prokarium’s original investor Flerie Invest as well as Korea Investment Partners.
Prokarium has developed an oral thermostable vaccine delivery platform that is technically different to currently available injectable vaccines as it triggers mucosal and cellular immunity.
“The vaccine industry and the synthetic biology community in the UK are thriving and our team has worked hard to play a central role in both, winning several prestigious grants and government contracts,” commented Prokarium’s CEO, Dr Ted Fjallman. “The new investment by RVC, Flerie and KIP is a clear endorsement of Prokarium’s leadership in developing novel, targeted medicines to prevent serious illnesses. We look forward to generating the clinical data for our current vaccines and working with our investors to find new opportunities to partner our technologies globally.”
“The global vaccine market is worth over $35 billion with a CAGR of 8% or more, yet many countries still do not make full use of the healthcare savings that preventative medicine like vaccines can bring,” added RVC’s CEO, Dr Khalid Al-Saleh. “Prokarium’s team have developed a unique technology that can solve many issues with vaccine efficacy and delivery. We believe their expertise in synthetic biology, coupled with the need for easily accessible childhood vaccines in emerging markets and the growing adult vaccine market globally, will allow Prokarium to expand into many new areas in the coming years.”
“The recent outbreak of pneumonic plague in Madagascar and the fact that there are over 130 million new cases of Chlamydia every year show us that both old and new diseases can emerge as global health threats at any time,” said Flerie Invest’s executive director, Thomas Eldered. “Flerie is very glad to be investing alongside RVC and KIP in the further development of Prokarium into a clinical stage company to better address these unmet medical needs in the future.”
“We are excited about Prokarium’s technology platform and the wide-ranging applications for it,” stated Sangwoo Lee, Executive Director of KIP. “We look forward to working with RVC and Flerie to help the Prokarium team find collaborators in Asia and other parts of the world, so that Prokarium’s innovations can benefit people globally.”