Next week, I will join thousands of leaders across the biotech industry at the J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference. This event always feels like a fantastic way to kick off the year, as it offers an opportunity to share with partners and investors old and new what your company has been working on and preview what’s in store for the future. 

As many of you know, Vaxess has developed a proprietary transdermal patch and applicator, capable of delivering a wide range of therapies and vaccines. If you want to get a better sense of the Vaxess MIMIX™ Transdermal Patch Platform, take two minutes to watch this video. Since joining Vaxess as CEO in 2024, I couldn’t be prouder of all that our team has accomplished. Here, I’ve detailed a few of Vaxess’s many milestones from 2024:

Demonstrated comparable bioavailability of MIMIX delivered GLP-1 compared to subcutaneous injection

Over the last year, Vaxess demonstrated ability to effectively deliver the clinical dose of GLP-1 RA, semaglutide leveraging the MIMIX platform and process. The team has evaluated patch delivered semaglutide versus subcutaneous injection of semaglutide in minipigs and rodents and showed comparable bioavailability. This is an important step forward in demonstrating the power of the platform as a tool for chronic disease therapy like obesity and improving the patient experience.

Partnering with leading biopharma companies 

In 2024 Vaxess signed an agreement with a leading biopharma company to collaborate on delivering diabetes and obesity therapeutics. Over the course of the partnership, Vaxess will work with them to demonstrate the pharmacokinetic properties of administering their drug via Vaxess’s MIMIX transdermal patch and evaluate how these properties compare to the typical method of subcutaneous injection in a swine model. 

Vaxess also continued to make progress in demonstrating immunogenicity and stability of mRNA pandemic flu patch alongside AstraZeneca. This in connection with the collaboration signed in 2023 to develop an mRNA pandemic flu vaccine in patch format and funded by JPEO / BARDA.*

We are excited to explore partnering opportunities in therapeutics like GLP-1 and vaccines and continue to have active conversations with a number of strategics in the space.

Receiving NIH Grant to Explore Administering Type 2 Diabetes Treatment via the Vaxess MIMIX™ Transdermal Patch Platform 

GLP-1 RA therapies have revolutionized the treatment of T2D because they provide substantial reductions in blood sugar levels as well as address the underlying metabolic dysfunction of obesity that both can cause and complicate the management of diabetes. Unfortunately, suboptimal patient experience, complex updosing, and constrained access are general challenges to these therapies. These barriers highlight the critical need for new modes of GLP-1 RA delivery.

In 2024 Vaxess received a grant from the NIH to build on the company’s existing efforts in GLP-1, exploring how its proprietary MIMIX transdermal patch platform can enable simple and effective GLP-1 RA at-home delivery for people with T2D.

Adding Peter Kolchinsky to Board of Directors

In August, Vaxess announced that Peter Kolchinsky, PhD, co-founder and managing partner at RA Capital Management, joined Vaxess’s board of directors.

One of the most prolific supporters of biotech startups, Kolchinsky is active in both public and private investments in companies developing drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and research tools and serves on the boards of publicly- and privately-held life science companies. He is the author of “The Great American Drug Deal” and “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Biotech Startup,” and frequently writes and speaks on the future of biotechnology innovation. He also founded and serves as a Director of No Patient Left Behind, a non-profit advocating for healthcare reforms that would make today's medicines affordable to patients and promote the innovation that gives all of us hope for tomorrow. 

Raising $12 Million in New Funding

In May, Vaxess announced $12 million in new funding. Investors included RA Capital Management, Engine Ventures, GHIC, and Mission Bio Capital. This brings Vaxess’s total equity and non-dilutive funding to more than $90 million. 

Vaxess is using this funding to advance GLP-1, progress in vivo work with mRNA, and expand and scale manufacturing process capabilities in support of these and new partnerships to deliver next generation vaccines and therapeutics.  

I look forward to sharing many more company updates in the coming year. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about Vaxess, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team would be happy to meet at JPM, or you can contact us at contact@vaxess.com.

*Effort sponsored by the U.S. Government under Other Transaction number W15QKN-16-9-1002 between the MCDC, and the Government. The US Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes, notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.