Encubator's Innovation project Simplexia receives pre-seed grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation

The Swedish venture Simplexia develops a novel vaccine protecting against the most common sexually transmitted disease - genital herpes caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). The vaccine has shown promising results in animal studies and Simplexia has now received a pre-seed grant from Novo Seeds, the early stage commercialization program of the Danish Novo Nordisk Foundation. The grant will be used to expand Simplexia’s research and to compare Simplexia’s vaccine to a previous HSV-2 vaccine candidate which failed to induce protection in humans. 

The need for a vaccine against HSV-2 infection is huge as more than 500 million people are infected globally and no cure or vaccine is available today. HSV-2 causes a lifelong infection with genital blisters and it substantially increases the risk of being infected with HIV. The virus can also cause recurrent meningitis and a life-threatening infection of the newborn. Simplexia’s HSV-2 vaccine is therefore a very valuable product since it would reduce not only the spread of HSV-2 but also reduce HIV transmission.

No HSV-2 vaccine has yet proven to be efficient in humans, despite many attempts. Simplexia’s vaccine presents an important difference as compared with previously failed vaccine programs; while such vaccines have included proteins which are present also in herpes simplex virus type 1, which normally inducing oral blisters, Simplexia uses a protein that is unique for HSV-2. “We think that you need an immune response that is unique for the HSV-2 infection in order to develop a vaccine that will be efficient in humans.” says Jan-Åke Liljeqvist, head of R&D in Simplexia.

The pre-seed grant from Novo Nordisk Foundation will enable Simplexia to confirm its research hypothesis and further elucidate the differences between the Simplexia´s vaccine and other failed candidates. “We are very happy to have received this grant, as it will enable us to verify the potency of our antigen. The scientific and commercial support and contribution from the team at Novo Seeds are valuable for the future of the Simplexia’s development“, says Jan-Åke Liljeqvist.

The research behind Simplexia originates from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2009 the project was brought into Encubator - the business incubator associated with Gothenburg International Bioscience Business School (GIBBS) - and the business development of the vaccine program was initiated. Today, two business developers work fulltime in Simplexia with support from the board of directors who possess great experience from the life science and vaccine industry.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is a self-governing and profit-making foundation. The objective of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is twofold: to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies within the Novo Group, and to support scientific, humanitarian and social purposes. Most of the grants are awarded to medical and scientific projects and to select other research areas. The decision to award grants is the responsibility of scientific committees. For further information visit www.novonordiskfonden.dk

About Novo A/S and Novo Seeds

Novo A/S is the holding and investment company of the Novo Group, and is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was formed in 1999 to actively manage the assets of the foundation. Novo A/S has USD 15 billion of assets under management including significant shareholdings in the publicly listed Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) and Novozymes A/S (NVZMF. PK), Novo A/S provides seed, venture and growth capital to development stage companies within life science companies.

Novo Seeds was launched in September 2007 as a new initiative from Novo A/S and the Novo Nordisk Foundation to provide funding for early stage projects and seed financing of new life science companies in Scandinavia.

For more information, please visit www.simplexia.se or contact info@simplexia.se