MacDiarmid Institute affiliated people fill the leaderboard of annual KiwiNet Awards

SapVax

SapVax is based on the licensed intellectual property developed by Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble (MacDiarmid Associate Investigator), Professor Rod Dunbar and Dr Geoff Williams. The company is dedicated to the development and commercialisation of a pipeline of powerful, self-adjuvanting peptide-based cancer vaccines.

Their proprietary platform consists of highly specific TLR2 agonist adjuvants which can be covalently conjugated to virtually any synthetic peptide antigen in a rapid and cost-effective manufacturing process. SapVax has 2 lead programs, 1) SVX-ESO which targets the cancer testis antigen, NY-ESO-1, which is commonly overexpressed in ovarian cancer and 2) SVX-NEO, a discovery stage personalized neoantigen cancer vaccine.

SapVax plans to identify its lead candidate Q1 2020 and conduct GLP safety and toxicology studies, CMC/GMP and clinical site reviews Q3-4 2020. Additionally, SapVax intends to secure a co-development deal with a neoantigen company in Q2 2020 to develop SVX-NEO. In the next year, SapVax aims to secure $25M in Series A financing to progress SVX-ESO through IND-filing and completion of Phase 1 clinical safety and immunogenicity and SVX-NEO through IND-filing.

Hi-Aspect Limited

Hi-Aspect is commercialising protein nanofibril technology for a range of over-the-counter medicated skin care and wound care applications with a current focus on the acne market.

CTO Dr Leonardo Negron, KiwiNet finalist in the Baldwins Researcher Entrepreneur category, demonstrates the value of cross- disciplinary experience in leading the technical development of a highly regulated product. With his training and experience spanning clinical pharmacy, drug development and medical diagnostics R&D, he is well placed to manage the complexity of a technical development programme in a deep tech startup.

This experience enables him to lead the company’s development programme through regulatory compliance, as well as addressing the interplay between product design, customer feedback and product efficacy. Leonardo has valued being able to tap into the experienced commercialisation support networks locally and believes New Zealand entrepreneurs who seek out experienced advisors and highly qualified graduates will be well positioned to succeed.

For 2020 Hi-Aspect will be raising further capital to fund market expansion and new product development for its “over the counter” pharmacy range and seeking licensees for its Fibraspect³⁰⁰ ingredient in applications outside of human health.

Marama Labs

Marama Labs is developing world-first technologies that are pushing the boundaries of how spectroscopy is applied to industry challenges. The company is taking on a new staff member to further develop, test and calibrate their CloudSpec instruments,
as they move from prototype to market ready-product. The CloudSpec instruments have been developed to deliver simultaneous measurement of absorption, extinction and scattering spectra in clear and turbid liquids and have been validated in the wine industry.

Being a deep tech startup, the team are comfortable collaborating with a top research group in Australia one day and applying their technology in partnership with a wine producer the next. With 2020 being the year to roll out the launch of CloudSpec, the team are making progress on engaging a European distribution partner.

Tags: margaret brimble, shalen kumar, brendan darby, leonardo negron, will charles, geoff todd