New Zealand’s most experienced group of vaccine producers, Covid-19 Vaccine Corporation (CVC), has secured $3.3 million
in private funding to continue its work on a Covid-19 vaccine for New Zealanders and the world.
CVC was set up in May this year, and utilises well-established New Zealand technology based on tiny, biodegradable
biobeads which are coated in small fragments of the COVID-19 virus. CVC has set up multiple collaborations around New
Zealand including University of Auckland, Callaghan Innovation at Gracefield and Scion.
“The backing we have from our investors is just extraordinary and so very much appreciated. We could not achieve
anything without the cash that is required to progress our Covid-19 vaccine work. I feel the investors are very much
part of our team,” says CVC’s Chief Exeutive Officer, Dr Robert Feldman.
The company aims to complete its first human trial of the new vaccine by the end of 2021, which will cost around $8
million.
“We are not aiming to be the first vaccine on the market. Our mission is to produce a superior vaccine that unlike those
first off the block, is not created in a rush to reach the market” says Dr Feldman.
“We are taking painstaking measures that are designed to make our vaccine generate an improved response rate while being
cost-efficient to produce,” he adds.
The investor group is led by software entrepreneurs Guy and Susie Haddleton, and includes Dr Stephen Strother, the
Markon Trust, the CJ and JS Reeve Family Trust and Takapuna Investments.ABOUT CVC
CVC is made up of a group of lifelong biotech experts:
Dr Robert Feldman - a serial biotech entrepreneur and medical doctor with vaccine experience.
Dr Andy Herbert - a pharmaceutical development and manufacturing expert.
Tara Creaven-Capasso - a regulatory, quality and biotech expert with extensive international experience.
Helen Teale - a global clinical trial management expert.
Jeff Douglas – Managing director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals.
To date, the company has raised a $4.3 million dollars in private company funding, and $488,000 in government funding.