Centivax, Inc., a California-based biotechnology company developing vaccines and therapies, announced on Tuesday the close of an oversubscribed USD45m Series A financing round led by Future Ventures, with participation from NFX, BOLD Capital Partners, Kendall Capital Partners, Amplify Partners, Base4 Capital, and others.

The funds are to advance the company's lead candidate - a universal influenza vaccine - into Phase I clinical trials within eight months.

In addition to safety, the study will measure correlate-of-protection efficacy using the gold-standard hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay against a panel of more than twenty flu strains - including current 2024-2025 circulating strains, historical mismatch strains, and pandemic strains - in a direct head-to-head comparison with existing standard-of-care flu vaccines. The company says that because the HAI assay is the same correlate-of-protection used to license seasonal flu vaccines, positive data will provide a clear benchmark demonstrating the candidate's ability to deliver broad protection with a single vaccine.

'The Phase I trial gives us the opportunity to prove the Centivax platform technology works,' said Dr. Jerald Sadoff, MD, Centivax chief medical officer. 'We can demonstrate that the Centivax technology directs the immune system to focus on regions of pathogens that do not change across strains. This is valuable not just in flu, but for all rapidly mutating pathogens and other difficult targets in our portfolio.'

In preclinical studies in ferrets, pigs, cows, mice, rats, and human immune organoids, the company claims that Centivax technology consistently induced universal immunity to all tested influenza viruses, including the 2024-2025 H5N1 'bird flu.'

In addition to venture backing, Centivax has secured USD24m to date in competitive, non-dilutive awards - beginning with a USD2m 'Grand Challenge: End the Pandemic Threat' grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and followed by awards from CEPI, the National Institutes of Health, the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Command, and others.