Vaccine developer Betuvax (Artgen Biotech Group) has attracted about RUB 100 million of venture capital investments at a private placement. The funds will be used to conduct preclinical and clinical trials of a drug for cat allergies, as well as to develop human papillomavirus and rotavirus vaccines.
More than 30% of people on the planet are affected by allergies. They arise from the body’s inadequate response to potentially safe substances. Today, allergies cannot be completely cured, but there are methods to reduce the inflammatory response and allergen-specific immune therapy (ASIT) which can provide a long remission.
According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Artgen Biotech, Artur Isayev: “Betuvax is developing a fundamentally new approach to treating allergies. Our task is to use rational antigen design to switch the type of immune response with high hypersensitivity to a more adequate and specific type of immunity, which should prevent a pathological reaction to an allergen. If clinical trials with cat allergies are successful, we intend to create vaccines for other types of allergies as well.”
Pre-money’s valuation of Betuvax was RUB 800 million. The book of orders from investors wishing to take part in the company’s first investment round reached more than RUB 150 million. As investors rushed to complete transactions and receive Skolkovo’s 50% refund, only a part of the orders were satisfied. As a result, 44 investors became shareholders of the company. The placement was carried out on the Zorko and VTB Registrar investment platforms.
“According to the Moscow Innovation Agency, Russia’s venture market declined faster than the global market in the first half of 2024, its volume dropping by 18% year-on-year,” comments Sergey Masyuk, Director of Artgen Biotech. November 2024 did not seem like the best time to attract investment in startups due to a high key rate and accelerating inflation. However, with the support of Artgen Biotech’s ecosystem and the Skolkovo Foundation, Betuvax was able to attract funds in record time, 1 month.”
Russian analysts predict the market size of RUB 11 billion for cat allergy vaccines. There are currently no vaccines for cat allergies in the world. Available methods are limited to symptomatic therapy or elimination and limitation of the source of the allergen.
Betuvax specializes in the rational antigen design for subunit vaccines to treat allergies and prevent infectious and oncological diseases. Founded in 2020, the company is a subsidiary of the Artgen Biotech Group (MOEX: ABIO). Antigens developed by Betuvax for creating vaccines have already been licensed and are being used to register two anti-COVID vaccines in partnership with RBT (BioTechnology Developments), the owner of an adjuvant platform for subunit vaccines. To date, RBT has financed and completed a phase I-II clinical trial of the Betuvax-CoV-2 vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus infection, confirming the high degree of safety and immunogenicity of the drug and platform. A clinical trial of a combination coronavirus and influenza vaccine is being launched. Betuvax is also developing new approaches to allergy vaccines, including those for cat allergy, subunit vaccine formats to prevent rotavirus infection and HPV-associated cancers.