Vaccinex VCNX

Vaccinex, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of targeted biotherapeutics to treat serious diseases and conditions with unmet medical needs, including neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. The company believes it is a leader in semaphorin 4D, or SEMA4D, biology and is the only company targeting SEMA4D as a potential treatment for these indications. SEMA4D is an extracellular signaling molecule that regulates the activity of immune and inflammatory cells at sites of injury, cancer, or infection. Vaccinex has used its SEMA4D antibody platform and extensive knowledge of SEMA4D biology to develop its lead product candidate, pepinemab, an antibody believed to utilize novel mechanisms of action. The company is focused on developing pepinemab for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and, as resources allow, for head and neck cancer and pancreatic cancer, with third-party investigators having studied pepinemab in breast cancer and melanoma trials.

Vaccinex generates revenue primarily through research collaborations, licensing agreements, and potential future product sales from its pipeline of therapeutic candidates. The company has entered into antibody discovery agreements with third parties for the use of its ActivMAb platform, under which it may receive technology access fees, research payments, and success fees. Vaccinex has also licensed product candidates such as CHS-114, an anti-CCR8 antibody, to Coherus Biosciences. The company does not currently have commercial products on the market and relies on funding from partnerships, grants, and equity investments to support its research and development activities.

Vaccinex operates through the following segments:

• SEMA4D Antibody Platform: This segment focuses on the application of Vaccinex’s extensive knowledge of SEMA4D biology to develop its lead product candidate pepinemab for the treatment of various diseases and conditions, including neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Pepinemab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds and blocks the signaling activity of SEMA4D. The segment includes preclinical and clinical development efforts for pepinemab in indications such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, head and neck cancer, pancreatic cancer, and breast cancer, through both company-sponsored and investigator-sponsored trials.
• ActivMAb Antibody Discovery Platform: This segment is a proprietary human antibody discovery platform based on a novel method for expressing and presenting complex multipass membrane proteins, as well as large and diverse libraries of high affinity, full-length human monoclonal antibodies on the surface of mammalian pox viruses. The ActivMAb technology enables rapid generation of high affinity, full-length, human monoclonal antibodies synthesized and naturally modified in mammalian cells, expression and selection of antibodies that easily transition to manufacturing in mammalian lines, and an innovative method for selecting antibodies against multi-pass membrane proteins. Product candidates generated from this platform include VX5, a human antibody to CXCL13 currently in preclinical development for autoimmune disorders, and CHS-114, an anti-CCR8 antibody licensed to Coherus Biosciences. Vaccinex has also entered into antibody discovery agreements with third parties for their use of the ActivMAb platform.

Vaccinex believes it holds a unique position in the biotechnology industry as the only company targeting SEMA4D for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. This focus on SEMA4D biology provides a competitive advantage through its deep scientific expertise and proprietary platform technologies. The company faces competition from larger pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies developing immunotherapies and neurodegenerative disease treatments, but believes its novel mechanisms of action and differentiated pipeline position it well for partnership opportunities and pipeline expansion. Vaccinex’s intellectual property portfolio, including issued and pending patents for its SEMA4D antibody platform and ActivMAb technology, further supports its competitive standing.

Vaccinex serves patients suffering from serious diseases with unmet medical needs, including those with Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, various cancers such as head and neck and pancreatic cancer, and autoimmune disorders. The company collaborates with third-party investigators, academic institutions, and pharmaceutical companies such as Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Merck KGaA, Children’s Oncology Group, Emory University, and Moffitt Cancer Center to advance clinical trials of its product candidates. These collaborations involve investigator-sponsored trials and joint development efforts to evaluate pepinemab and other candidates in indications such as melanoma, breast cancer, osteosarcoma, and neurodegenerative diseases.