Arbovax preparing for dengue fever vaccine clinical trials

Vaccine developer Arbovax has raised $1.7 million in a Series A round of financing that the company is using to prepare for clinical trials on a dengue fever vaccine candidate.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based Arbovax has a platform vaccine technology that the company is developing to address insect-borne diseases. While the tropical disease dengue fever is Arbovax’s first target, CEO Malcolm Thomas said that the technology can be applied to a wide range of viruses carried by insects, including West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis and equine encephalitis.

The recent fund-raise, all from angel investors, will prepare the company for clinical work. But Thomas said Arbovax is seeking additional capital to conduct human studies. Arbovax has also received a $400,000 loan from the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

Arbovax’s technology modifies a virus such that it is able to grow normally in insect cells but is limited in its ability to grow in the cells of a mammal. The mutation of the virus means that a mammal infected by the virus would not see the the virus reproduce significantly. But enough virus would remain present to trigger an immune response. As a result, the subject develops immunity without suffering the disease. The company has tested the vaccine technology in animals. Now it’s eying human studies of the technology.

Arbovax was founded in 2008 based on research from North Carolina State University. Thomas said that while the technology would work on a number of viruses, the decision to make dengue fever Arbovax’s first target was an economic one ’ a vaccine would fill an unmet medical need for a large, global market estimated to be $1 billion.

The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide there are more than 50 million dengue infections each year. Patients suffering dengue fever virus can experience fever, headache and muscle and joint pain. In severe cases, the virus can lead to the more serious and sometimes fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever. Arbovax’s technology could represent a medical breakthrough in addressing dengue fever.

“There’s no treatment for dengue, that’s why finding a vaccine is a high priority,” Thomas said.