21 December 2018 - - US-based biotechnology company ILiAD Biotechnologies, LLC (ILiAD) has had the initial closing of a Class C financing, which will provide ILiAD with up to USD 20m of proceeds, the company said.

The initial closing includes commitments to fund USD 12.8m. 

These funds will enable the company to conduct a Phase 2b BPZE1 clinical study following the Phase 2a study currently in progress at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program.

The Class C financing is led by Network-1 Technologies (NYSE American: NTIP) and SDS Capital Partners. Existing shareholders JEMS Venture Capital and Seedlings Life Science Ventures also participated in the committed financing.

With the addition of the current commitments, the company has now secured USD 23m in equity funding since inception. Including a previous European grant of EUR 10m and upon completion of the Class C financing, assuming the maximum offering is consummated, a cumulative USD 41m will have been raised to develop ILiAD's BPZE1 technology.

BPZE1 is the most advanced next generation pertussis vaccine in the world, designed to overcome deficiencies of current vaccines, including poor durability and failure to prevent nasopharyngeal Bordetella pertussis infections that lead to transmission to vulnerable infants.

Earlier this year, the FDA cleared the Investigational New Drug application for a Phase 2a BPZE1 study at the Vanderbilt Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the National Institute of Health.

BPZE1 was developed in the lab of Camille Locht, PhD, at the Institut Pasteur de Lille and French National Institute of Health and Medical research.

ILiAD holds exclusive global rights to BPZE1 and related B-Tech technologies that are covered by 34 issued patents. An additional 24 patents are pending around the world.

In addition to funding continued operations, R and D and manufacturing development, the financing will support further clinical studies, including a multicenter Phase 2b clinical study that will compare ILiAD's lead candidate vaccine, BPZE1, to Boostrix, an FDA-licensed intramuscular acellular pertussis vaccine. It is anticipated that the Phase 2b study will enroll up to 300 healthy adult volunteers.

Walter Greenblatt and Associates, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC), a life science-focused investment bank, served as the financial advisor to ILiAD for this financing as well as for ILiAD's prior financing rounds.

BPZE1 is a next-generation live-attenuated pertussis vaccine designed to induce comprehensive and durable protection against B. pertussis infection (colonization) and disease (whooping cough).

BPZE1 is being developed to block B. pertussis from colonizing the adult nasal passage, protecting adults and adolescents, and potentially preventing transmission, including transmission to infants.

While ILiAD is currently focused on developing a vaccine to directly protect adults and adolescents and to indirectly protect vulnerable infants, future development aims to immunise neonates directly.