Seattle vaccine startup Curevo, which is developing a vaccine against shingles, raised $26 million.
The funding comes on the heels of $60 million raised in February to advance the company’s clinical trial for its shot against shingles, a painful condition caused by reactivation of the virus that causes chicken pox.
The startup aims to develop a shingles vaccine with a better safety profile and equivalent effectiveness to the leading vaccine on the market. It’s taking on pharma giant GSK, which pulled in $2.3 billion in sales last year for Shingrix, its shingles vaccine approved in 2017.
The Curevo shot is built from a non-living component of the virus and a proprietary adjuvant, a substance added to a shot to boost vaccine effectiveness.
In September, Curevo completed enrollment of 678 people in its phase 2b trial in the U.S. comparing its shot, CRV-101, to Shingrix. The trial’s primary endpoints will measure safety and immunological outcomes, including levels of antibody against the virus. Data from the trial are due in early 2023.
“We see significant commercial potential for a shingles vaccine that could match the clinical profile of Shingrix,” said Andy Acker, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors in a statement Wednesday announcing the funding round. “CRV-101 has the potential to demonstrate a favorable tolerability profile with comparable immunogenicity to Shingrix.”
