Participants in the latest funding round for Woburn, Massachusetts-based Vaxess included RA Capital Management and Engine Ventures.
The company plans to use the funds to continue to advance its work in GLP-1 therapeutics and to expand manufacturing capabilities. It aims to support its lead program as well as new partnerships for additional therapeutics.
Vaxess develops the MiMix patch, which it previously touted as a vaccine delivery patch. It features a soluble microarray with tips that gradually dissolve into the body after removal. These tips release their payload of therapeutics over time, mimicking how natural infections interact with the body.
Over the past year, the company also demonstrated the ability to deliver a clinical dose of GLP-1 RA, semaglutide. It leverages the same Vaxess platform and process tested in previous therapeutics. The company said it evaluated patch-delivered semaglutide versus subcutaneous injection in minipigs and rodents, showing comparable bioavailability.
Additionally, in 2024, the company inked a collaboration with a biopharmaceutical company to collaborate on delivering diabetes and obesity therapeutics. In the partnership, Vaxess aims to demonstrate the pharmacokinetic properties of administrating the company’s drug using its patch. It intends to evaluate how the properties compare to the typical method of subcutaneous injection in a swine model.
“From GLP-1 to insulin, doctors prescribe numerous drugs that require people to self-inject, which can cause physical and psychological discomfort,” said Rachel Sha, CEO of Vaxess. “Vaxess’s microarray patch is the future of drug delivery. In the coming years, instead of having to perform an uncomfortable self-injection for a range of conditions, people will be able to simply apply a band-aid-like patch for a few minutes. Additionally, for therapies that require being refrigerated during shipment and storage, this room temperature stable patch eliminates the burden and cost associated with cold chain.”
