Vaxxas to scale up its vaccine skin patch facility

Australian biotech company Vaxxas will receive an $8.2 million second-round grant as part of the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) to support the scale-up of its potentially game-changing technology that enables vaccines to be applied to the skin using a small patch.

Vaxxas’ high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) technology uses an ultrahigh-density array of micro projections — invisible to the human eye — applied to the skin as a patch to rapidly deliver vaccine to the abundant immune cells immediately below the skin surface, which can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of resulting immune responses of vaccines. The company uses proprietary dry-coating technology to apply an active and stable vaccine onto the projections, which offers the potential to eliminate the need for vaccine refrigeration during storage and transportation. Ease of use of the HD-MAP could also enable simplified administration, potentially encompassing self-administration.

In 2021, Vaxxas received $4.4 million in first-round MMI funding to support the specialised infrastructure necessary to manufacture its HD-MAP device at its biomedical facility currently under construction at Northshore, Brisbane. The second-round 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-based biomedical facility will support late-stage clinical trials and early commercial production, and is due to open in early 2023. In addition to relocating Vaxxas’ existing workforce of more than 100 employees to the site, the new facility will support the creation of 29 new highly skilled jobs and the ongoing growth and development of the biotech and medtech sectors in South East Queensland.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Australian Federal Government for their ongoing support of our vaccination technology,” Vaxxas Chief Executive Officer David Hoey said.

“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.”

Image caption: Vaxxas HD-MAP application. (Photo: Business Wire)

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