Federal grant for an improved vaccine delivery system

A company developing a new oral vaccine delivery system based on University of Queensland research has received a federal grant of nearly $200,000.

Vacquel Pty Ltd – a start-up company set up last year by UQ’s commercialisation arm, UniQuest – is validating a new system for delivering foreign antigens orally for vaccination, which is potentially safer, cheaper and more effective than current technology.

The Federal Government’s Biotechnology Innovation Fund (BIF) yesterday announced it would provide Vacquel with a grant of $193,676.

The funding comes from the Backing Australia’s Ability initiative, and is part a program to increase the rate of commercialisation of Australian biotechnology ventures.

The new vaccine delivery system was developed and patented by University of Queensland researchers Dr Mike Jennings and Dr Tamsin Terry, and will be applicable to a broad range of important diseases in humans and animals.

The system uses live attenuated Salmonella bacteria that can be administered orally to deliver the antigens.

“We are excited by the opportunity provided by Vacquel for our work to proceed from the bench-top to commercial products, on the back of the Uniseed and BIF funding”, Dr Jennings said.

Vacquel chairman Andrew Davis said the company was originally funded by an investment of $392,000 from UniSeed, and the BIF grant will allow the company to increase the depth of its research.

“We can now look at a number of antigens, and furthermore Vacquel can develop commercial relationships with vaccine companies at an earlier stage,” Mr Davis said.

It is hoped Vacquel will validate the delivery system using a veterinary disease as a model that will lead to a licensed product in 1-2 years.

The world human and veterinary vaccine markets are estimated at over $7 billion and $3 billion per annum.

Media: for more information contact Andrew Davis (tel. 07 3365 4037 or 0419 214 847) or Peter McCutcheon at UQ Communications (tel. 07 3365 1088 or 0413 380 012)