DelSiTech, a drug delivery and drug development company based in Turku, has announced that it received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will be used to create long-acting injectable formulations that will gradually release the HIV vaccine. This is the third grant awarded to DelSiTech by the foundation since 2018. DelSiTech uses its proprietary Silica Matrix technology to control drug release while preserving therapeutic functions and being compatible with both small molecules and large biologics. The technology has the potential to allow for the parenteral delivery of complex immunogens, adjuvants, and mRNA-encoding protein immunogens.
DelSiTech is an innovative drug delivery and development company that works with its partners to turn their active agents into novel and commercially attractive therapeutic drug products. DelSiTech provides the technology and expertise for solving drug delivery problems. The company’s technology is based on amorphous silica (SiO2) matrix and sol-gel encapsulation technique which have significant competitive advantages over other technologies. In addition, the company is developing its own pipeline of supergeneric/505(b)(2) products to address significant unmet medical and commercial needs. The lead product, a long-acting antiviral product for chronic hepatitis B, will enter the clinic in 2023.
“We would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its continued support in funding new strategies for HIV prevention for underserved populations. In the past, traditional approaches to develop HIV vaccines have failed to result in an effective product. The recent research in this field has led to a paradigm shift to develop an HIV vaccine with novel type of immunogens stimulating B cells of the immune system, aiming generate broadly neutralizing antibodies. Based on previous animal studies, this may require complex priming including prolonged exposure to the immunogen and DelSiTech’s proprietary drug delivery technology has the potential to provide the necessary solution. Encapsulating HIV encoding mRNA using our Silica based matrix is especially exciting for us as the realization of this project will help shape a new era for vaccine development.” said Dr. Lasse Leino, CEO of DelSiTech.
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