30 Jun 2020 GPN Vaccines closes A$7 million Series A2 round oversubscribed with Forepont Capital Partners becoming a significant investor
Adelaide, Australia, 30th June 2020 – Australian biotechnology company GPN Vaccines, which is developing a vaccine against the world’s foremost bacterial pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae, is pleased to announce it has raised A$7 million (USD$4.9 million) in an oversubscribed Series A2 investment round.
GPN Vaccines has created global interest in its broad-spectrum pneumococcal vaccine, Gamma-PNTM, with investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia participating in the Series A2 investment round. This included New York-based Forepont Capital Partners, who invest in outstanding science that addresses unmet patient needs. The Series A2 round also generated strong local support, with nearly half the funding coming from Australian investors.
The Series A2 investment will be used alongside a A$1 million grant from the South Australian Government’s Research, Commercialisation and Startup Fund (www.innovationandskills.sa.gov.au/RCSF) to complete a Phase 1 clinical trial on the safety and tolerability of the Gamma-PNTM vaccine in healthy volunteers aged 50-64 years, expecting to commence in Adelaide early next year.
Professor Tim Hirst, Chairman and CEO of GPN Vaccines, commented, “We are thrilled by the response to this investment round, and by the interest we have received both from Australian and overseas investors. The achievement in securing investment from Forepont Capital, a US-based institutional investor, as well as attracting oversubscription of approximately USD$1 million, has put us in a very strong position to deliver on our development objectives”, he said.
“We are pleased to partner with GPN Vaccines who are developing what we believe to be an important new vaccine technology against the world’s foremost bacterial pathogen. Forepont is committed to adding value by assisting the company in all aspects including financial, scientific and operational” said Dr Ismail Kola, a senior partner at Forepont Capital who has joined GPN’s board of directors.
South Australia’s Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said: “The South Australian Government is pleased to have supported GPN Vaccines through the Research Commercialisation and Startup Fund, with the investment helping to attract significant private sector capital into South Australia to continue developing this valuable vaccine”.
About GPN Vaccines
GPN Vaccines is a public (unlisted) biotechnology company developing a vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacteria responsible for causing life-threatening pneumonia, bacteraemia and meningitis, as well as otitis media (middle ear infections). Each year it causes 1-2 million deaths worldwide, killing more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. There are now 100 different strains of S. pneumoniae, however the best vaccine currently on the market only protects against 13 strains. GPN Vaccines’ S. pneumoniae vaccine, Gamma-PNTM, is being developed to protect children and adults against all strains of S. pneumoniae. Gamma-PNTM was invented as part of a research collaboration between GPN Vaccines’ parent company, Gamma Vaccines Pty Ltd and the University of Adelaide’s Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, led by Professor James Paton and Dr Mohammed Alsharifi.
About Forepont Capital Partners
Forepont Capital Partners leverages strategic capital and diverse and extensive expertise to help realize and accelerate value in new science, medicines and technologies that have an impact on patients’ lives and healthcare outcomes.