1 Jun 2020 Astute Ventures makes an investment in Australia based GPN Vaccines Pty Ltd.
Reasons for the investment
- GPN Vaccine covers all 100 Serotypes (strains) of Pneumonia and all future Serotypes.
- Pneumonia is a common respiratory infection, affecting approximately 450 million people a year and occurring in all parts of the world. It is a major cause of death among all age groups, resulting in 1.4 million deaths in 2010 (7% of the world’s yearly total) and 3.0 million deaths in 2016 (the 4th leading cause of death in the world)
- Pneumonia is the leading cause of death for children under 5 — more than 800,000 children died due to pneumonia in 2017.
- The global mortality rates for older people remained unchanged since 1990.
- Mortality from pneumonia is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- The greatest risk factors for developing pneumonia are undernutrition, air pollution and smoking.
- Research suggests that pneumococcal vaccines could be saving the lives of almost 400,000 children annually.
Current vaccines, at most, cover only 23 of the 100 known serotypes. This low number of covered serotypes is leading to a “replacement” effect in developing nations. Replacement is where the current vaccines suppress up to 23 of the serotypes while the other 77 serotypes become more common.
Every two years, a new serotype appears, increasing the prevalence and variety of pneumonia.
The investment meets Astute Ventures’ criteria of a large market, strong IP, large free cash flow potential and intelligent management.
