Vaxxas will receive an AU$8.2 million second round grant as part of the Australian Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) to support the manufacturing scale-up of its technology that allows vaccines to be applied to the skin using a small patch.
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In 2021, Vaxxas received AU$4.4 million first round MMI funding to support the infrastructure necessary to manufacture its high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) device at its biomedical facility currently under construction at Northshore, Brisbane.
This additional support will allow the team to develop and establish a sterile production line using proprietary aseptic fill and finish processes at the facility, further advancing the company’s vaccine coating, device sealing and quality control technologies.
The Brisbane production facility will support late-stage clinical trials and early commercial production.
Vaxxas chief executive officer David Hoey said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Australian Federal Government for their ongoing support of our vaccination technology.
“It is fantastic to see the Government backing innovations by local companies that have the potential to make a difference to lives in Australia and around the world.”
The Vaxxas HD-MAP uses an ultra-high-density array of micro projections – invisible to the human eye – applied to the skin as a patch to deliver vaccine to the immune cells immediately below the skin surface. The vaccination technology has the potential to fundamentally improve pandemic and routine vaccination through production efficiencies, breadth and speed of access, and population coverage.
With support from the Queensland State Government, the Vaxxas Biomedical Facility is being constructed in Northshore, Brisbane and due to open in early 2023.
Vaxxas will work with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources over the coming weeks to finalise grant details.
