Vaxdyn raises $13M Series A to develop vaccines against drug-resistant bacteria
What's the deal? Spanish biotech Vaxdyn has raised €11 million ($13 million) in a Series A round led by Portugal's Biovance Capital. The company develops vaccines against highly pathogenic bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Who's in? Biovance Capital, which describes itself as the leading biotechnology investor in Portugal, led the round. The European Innovation Council FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and the Impacto Andalucía Innovación y Desarrollo fund, managed by Arcano Partners, also participated.
What's the endgame? Vaxdyn is building vaccines using a proprietary technology platform to target bacteria the World Health Organization considers critical threats to human health. The new capital will let it advance one of its candidates, K-VAX, into clinical evaluation.
Why now? Antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause roughly 541,000 deaths a year in Europe and about 204,000 in the US, totalling around 5 million deaths annually worldwide, according to Biovance. Without effective intervention, that toll could reach 10 million a year by 2050, overtaking cancer as the world's leading cause of death.
The signal: At €11 million, the round sits in the upper tier of European biotech Series A deals — a sign investors are willing to back early-stage work on antimicrobial resistance, an area often seen as commercially difficult but medically urgent.
Read more: jornaldenegocios.pt
Image credit: Vaxdyn
