Vaxxas receives MMI grant for vaccine patch production

Syringe-free vaccination technology company Vaxxas is to receive an $8.2 million grant to support the scale up of manufacturing at its Australian manufacturing facility.

The Cambridge Massachusetts and Australian company was awarded the second round grant as part of the federal government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) to support manufacture of its skin patch which delivers vaccines to the body.

In 2021 the company received $4.4 million in first round MMI funding for supporting infrastructure at a state-of-the-art biomedical facility currently under construction at Northshore, Brisbane for its high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) device.

This additional support will establish a sterile production line using proprietary aseptic fill and finish processes at the facility, further advancing the company’s vaccine coating, device sealing and quality control technologies.

CEO David Hoey said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Australian Federal Government for their ongoing support of our vaccination technology.

“It is fantastic to see the Government backing innovations by local companies that have the potential to make a difference to lives in Australia and around the world.”

The Vaxxas HD-MAP uses an ultra-high-density array of micro projections – invisible to the human eye – applied to the skin as a patch to rapidly deliver vaccine to the abundant immune cells immediately below the skin surface.

The vaccination technology has the potential to fundamentally improve pandemic and routine vaccination through production efficiencies, breadth and speed of access, and population coverage.

The Queensland state government is also supporting the Vaxxas Biomedical Facility which due to open in early 2023.

The company’s existing workforce of more than 100 employees will locate to the site, with another 29 to be employed.

Vaxxas will work with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources over the coming weeks to finalise grant details.

Picture: Vaxxas