LinKinVax Just Completed a New Round of Financing, Initiated in 2022, for a Total of €7,3 M

Supporting its next series A round up to € 50 M

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LinKinVax, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, is announcing capital funding for a total of €7,3 M from several individual tech executive investors including the co-founder André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé and its newest investor In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT), the non-profit strategic investor which delivers cutting-edge and critically needed technology capabilities that contribute to the national security of the United States and its allies.

This investment contributes to a first capital funding supporting LinKinVax next series A round up to €50 M. It signals that LinKinVax has huge capabilities to accelerate the clinical development of its innovative protein-based vaccine platform, which can be tuned to address multiple pathogens with adaptability to mutations including viral or bacterial infectious diseases and cancer treatments - HIV, SarsCov2, HPV, papillomavirus-related cancers, chlamydia -.

LinKinVax’s innovative technology directly targets dendritic cells (“DC”), which play a crucial role in the immune system, stimulating and regulating immune responses. It is predicated on work by the Vaccine Research Institute/Inserm (VRI) in which Inserm, University of Paris Est Créteil (UPEC), and the Mondor Institute of Biomedical Research (IMRB) participate. Thanks to the potential of its technology platform and the advances in its portfolio (Phase I/IIa on a first indication), LinKinVax aims to make a decisive contribution to the global public health challenges of infectious diseases and cancer.

J.D. Englehart, Director, IQT International Ltd UK: “We are impressed by LinKinVax’s team and its vision for developing world-class vaccine technology. Their work demonstrates great potential for a robust vaccine portfolio to combat emerging and existing infectious diseases.”

André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, CEO and co-founder of LinKinVax commented: “We are grateful that our breakthrough vaccine technology, designed to respond to high and growing global need, generated interest from In-Q-Tel. Based on the unprecedented potential of our protein-based vaccine platform, In-Q-Tel is supporting us in our next series A round up to €50 Million, allowing to push ahead the next stages of our ambitious clinical program. Our objective is to provide effective vaccines as rapidly as possible to help address the public health challenges linked to the various pathogens we are targeting.”

LinKinVax has already risen to prominence in the French sector, with Bpifrance granting it €31 Million under a Covid-related PIA PSCP program and Government “Plan Relance”. This new financing, completed in December 2022, includes a seed funding from private shareholders, beginning of 2022.

About LinKinVax technology

LinKinVax’s vaccine platform is built around a humanized monoclonal antibody, which is fused with regions of pathogens of interest, targeting the CD40 molecule expressed by dendritic cells, DC, which play a key role in stimulating the immune system. The results obtained demonstrate the benefits of this strategy owing to the small quantity of antigens required to activate the immune system, with or without an adjuvant, and its ability to trigger a lasting cellular and humoral and immune response. The platform also benefits from the experience and safety profile of the protein-based vaccines that have been widely used for over 30 years now. Three products are in or about to enter clinical trials: a prophylactic vaccine for HIV, currently in phase I/IIa led by VRI/Inserm/ANRS-EID), a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine covering variants of interest, and a therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus-related cancers.

About LinKinVax

LinKinVax was founded in 2020 and is led by two internationally renowned personalities in the worlds of medicine, industry and business, namely André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, Honorary Chairman and founder of SOITEC, and Prof. Yves Levy, MD, PhD, immunologist, and Director of the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI/INSERM/UPEC). LinKinVax is developing an innovative protein-based vaccine platform that can accelerate availability of vaccines by leveraging the research conducted at the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI). This DC Targeting-based protein vaccine platform can adapt to changes and mutations in the target pathogens. For further information, please visit www.linkinvax.com

About In-Q-Tel, Inc.

IQT delivers cutting-edge and critically needed technology capabilities that contribute to the national security of the United States and its allies. IQT achieves this through market and trend analyses, strategic investments, technology adaptation, and applied research. Founded in 1999 as the independent, not-for-profit strategic investor to the CIA, IQT’s role and scope has since evolved, and IQT now partners with 10 U.S. government agencies. Its Sydney-based Australian subsidiary, IQT International Australia Ltd., collaborates with the Office of National Intelligence (www.oni.gov.au) on behalf of Australia’s national intelligence community to support a partnership between the intelligence and national security communities of the U.S., UK, and Australia. Learn more at www.iqt.org.