$3.3 Million NIH Grant for Developing Enhanced Seasonal Influenza Vaccine

Orlance, Inc. today announced it was awarded the National Institutions of Health (NIH) Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop an Enhanced Seasonal Influenza Vaccine.

This vaccine is intended to provide better protection against disease even in years when predicted vs. actual circulating strains are highly mismatched.

The award includes $300,000 for Phase 1, with the total funding for the Phase 1 and 2 combined program amounting to $3.3 million.

This Fast Track SBIR grant will enable Orlance to leverage its innovative MACH-1 powdered vaccine and immunotherapy platform to address seasonally changing and highly conserved influenza immunogens in ways that are impossible with other platforms.

Specifically, this program builds upon Orlance's universal influenza vaccine, which targets conserved antigens consistent across multiple virus lineages and adds seasonally changing influenza antigens to maximize protection.

The MACH-1 platform is a high-performance microparticle 'gene gun' technology that efficiently and uniquely delivers DNA or RNA vaccine-coated microparticles directly into cells in the uppermost layer of the skin.

MACH-1 delivery harnesses this environment and the natural machinery of its immune cells to deliver DNA and RNA vaccines encoding proteins that trigger potent immunity, including antibodies to block an infection and T cells that can eliminate infected cells.

Unlike currently licensed mRNA vaccines, MACH-1-delivered vaccines are stable at room temperature, painless, and needle-free. Orlance MACH-1 vaccines also trigger protective immunity levels with the smallest doses achieved within the field.

"NIH's continued funding support of the MACH-1 platform, including this enhanced seasonal influenza vaccine, reinforces the potential impact and significant step forward MACH-1 can bring to vaccine technology," adds Kristyn Aalto, Orlance CEO, in a press release on October 10, 2024.

This award brings Orlance's SBIR funding to $16.8M for next-generation generation DNA and RNA vaccines and therapeutics.