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Astrivax

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Hanne Callewaert - Astrivax

Partnering with the PMV team and network on vaccine innovation brings us one step closer to new and effective vaccines that are easy to produce, less dependent on the cold chain and provide long-term protection.

Hanne Callewaert, CEO and co-founder of Astrivax

'Plasmid-launched live attenuated virus' platform for prevention and treatment of viral diseases

AstriVax is a private spin-off company from KU Leuven, founded in 2022 based on vaccine technology developed at the Rega Institute. AstriVax is building a first-in-class Plug & Play vaccine platform with a patented DNA-based technology that launches self-amplifying live attenuated viruses. AstriVax’s versatile technology can be used to develop a wide range of vaccines to prevent and treat infectious diseases. AstriVax aims to address key challenges in vaccinology by developing new vaccines that are easy to produce, have fewer cold chain requirements and offer broad and long-term protection against various viruses and other pathogens.

The start-up will use the capital raised to (1) bring the first thermostable yellow fever (YF) vaccine into an initial phase 1 study in humans, (2) further develop two candidate vaccines in the pipeline into clinical trials (e.g. vaccines to prevent rabies and treat chronic hepatitis B (CHB)), (3) clinically validate the platform technology based on clinical data generated with YF, rabies and CHB, and (4) complement the preclinical pipeline with several preventive and therapeutic leads.
The company is based at the BioHub in Leuven.

Partners in ambition at Astrivax

Starting from first-in-class PLLAV technology, AstriVax’s activities respond to the increasing demand for vaccines that are more efficient and easier to produce and handle. Both preventive and therapeutic vaccines are envisaged for viral infections and other indications. The initial focus is on the one hand on the development of preventive vaccines for yellow fever and rabies and on the other hand on the development of a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infections.

In 2022, Flanders Future Techfund, which is operationally managed by PMV, invested in a €30M seed round together with V-Bio Ventures, Fund+, Ackermans & van Haaren, Thuja Capital Managment, Mérieux Equity Partners, BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity and Gemma Frisius Fund. This investment will allow the platform to be further validated and a pipeline of vaccines to be built.

Investment team Astrivax

Bart De Taeye Investment manager bart.detaeye@pmv.eu
Filip Goossens Principal investment manager filip.goossens@pmv.eu