Flush from a $14 million upfront payment from GlaxoSmithKline and in hot pursuit of an intranasal therapeutic vaccine for hepatitis B, Ann Arbor, MI-based NanoBio is bursting at the seams.
The biotech company is in the process of hiring a vice president of vaccine research, a director of vaccine research, a director of clinical vaccines, an analytical scientist and a research associate, according to AnnArbor.com. And it's adding new labs and office space to accommodate the swelling workforce.
Using a $300,000 grant from the NIH, NanoBio plans to test the experimental nanoemulsion hepatitis B vaccine on animals and then shift into the clinic to test the shot on people who are already infected by the virus.
"This new intranasal vaccine would have great value as a treatment to reduce the risk of HBV associated liver diseases and deaths globally," NanoBio founder and CEO James Baker says in a statement. "The vaccine is also highly stable at room temperature enabling storage without refrigeration, a factor of great importance in the developing world."
The spinout from the University of Michigan is advancing nanoemulsion technology, which uses tiny droplets to attack the outer membrane of pathogenic organisms. That strategy can work against bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores.
- here's the press release
- here's the story from AnnArbor.com