CAP-CMV GmbH To Advance Novel hCMV Vaccine Development

CAP-CMV GmbH, a spin-out of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, announced that it has raised funds totaling € 1.7 million for the development of its novel vaccine intended for protection against human Cytomegalovirus (hCMV) infection.

The company, which focuses exclusively on its vaccine, will use the funds raised from its investors KfW, Peppermint Venture Partners (PVP), Creathor Venture, NRW.Bank, and private investors in a combined seed and start-up investment. Wolfgang Kintzel, start-up CEO of CAP-CMV, said, “We are very happy that we could now secure our Series A financing round for this unique vaccine project. The money will be used to prove in various animal studies the clear advantages of our system against other technologies as well as advancing our pre-clinical programs.”

Funds will be used to further develop the vaccine candidate HCMV dense bodies (DBs) derived from CEVEC´s human CAP cell technology. Dense bodies contain the highest amount of relevant antigens, shown to elicit strong and lasting humoral and cellular immune responses in preclinical models. According to the company, DBs are the ideal vaccine candidate to prevent hCMV caused diseases.

Human cytomegalovirus is a species of the cytomegalovirus family, which belongs to the viral family known as Herpesviridae. Congenital infection with hCMV is one of the leading causes of neonatal disabilities. Up to 40% of the population carries hCMV, making it a major health threat to immunocompromised patients such as recipients of solid organ or stem transplantations.

Earlier this month CAP-CMV´s shareholders also appointed Albrecht Läufer as the new company CEO. Joachim Rautter, Managing Partner at PVP, and speaker of CAP-CMV´s advisory board, said, “Wolfgang has put CAP-CMV on the right track and we thank him for his tremendous efforts to establish the company. We now welcome Albrecht and wish him success in taking forward CAP-CMV on its growth path while Wolfgang will be appointed to the board of CAP-CMV”. Mr. Läufer was the cofounder and first CEO of Vakzine Projekt Management GmbH (VPM), the firm which began preclinical development of HCMV dense bodies and which later licensed the project to CAP-CMV.