Centivax, Inc., a South San Francisco-based biotechnology company developing universal vaccines, announced the completion of an oversubscribed $45 million Series A financing round led by Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures. The funding will advance the company's universal flu vaccine through Phase I clinical trials scheduled to begin within eight months.
The Series A round included participation from NFX, BOLD Capital Partners, Base4 Capital, Kendall Capital Partners, Amplify Bio, and other investors, with existing insiders increasing their ownership stakes. Future Ventures, which has previously backed Tesla, SpaceX, and other companies representing $1.4 trillion in aggregate value creation, led the investment.
"I have been on a quest to find a credible antiviral breakthrough for over 20 years," said lead investor Steve Jurvetson. "Centivax has developed a universal shot for all forms of flu, and they have already demonstrated their universal immunity platforms in other areas, including universal antivenom. Their unique approach will hopefully lead to a historic transition to a post-pandemic era for humanity."
Clinical Development Strategy
The funding will support Centivax's first clinical candidate, a universal flu vaccine currently in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) development. The upcoming Phase I trial will evaluate both safety and correlate-of-protection efficacy using the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay against more than twenty flu strains, including current 2024-2025 circulating strains, historical mismatch strains, and pandemic strains.
The study design includes a direct head-to-head comparison with existing standard-of-care flu vaccines. Because the HAI assay represents the same correlate-of-protection used to license seasonal flu vaccines, positive data would provide a clear benchmark demonstrating the candidate's ability to deliver broad protection with a single vaccine.
"The Phase I trial gives us the opportunity to prove the Centivax platform technology works," said Dr. Jerald Sadoff, Chief Medical Officer of Centivax. "We can demonstrate that the Centivax technology directs the immune system to focus on regions of pathogens that do not change across strains. This is valuable not just in flu, but for all rapidly mutating pathogens and other difficult targets in our portfolio."
Preclinical Validation
In preclinical studies conducted across multiple species including ferrets, pigs, cows, mice, rats, and human immune organoids, the Centivax technology consistently induced universal immunity to all tested influenza viruses, including the 2024-2025 H5N1 "bird flu." The company's epitope-focusing platform targets conserved regions of pathogens that remain unchanged across different strains.
Leadership and Board Expansion
As part of the financing, Dr. Emilio Emini joined Centivax's Board of Directors. Dr. Emini previously served as CEO of the Gates Medical Research Institute, Director of the Gates Foundation HIV and tuberculosis programs, and SVP of Vaccine R&D at both Pfizer and Merck. He contributed to the development of multiple vaccines, including Prevnar, where he was responsible for its development for both pediatric and adult prevention of pneumococcal disease.
"Centivax's approach to the design and development of a truly universal influenza vaccine is unique and creative," said Dr. Emini. "As such, the approach has considerable potential for successfully achieving a goal that has proven elusive to date."
The company is led by CEO and founder Dr. Jacob Glanville, former founder and CEO of Distributed Bio, which was acquired by Charles River Laboratories in 2020. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jerald Sadoff previously led vaccine development at Johnson & Johnson, Merck, WRAIR, and AERAS, resulting in 14 vaccines receiving regulatory approval, including Gardasil, Zostavax, ProQuad, Rotateq, and the Janssen Jcovden COVID-19 vaccine.
Broader Pipeline and Market Opportunity
Beyond its flagship universal flu program, Centivax's platform enables a growing pipeline for RSV/hMPV, herpesviruses, HIV, malaria, oncology, and a universal antivenom that was recently published in Cell. The company's lead clinical candidate addresses a greater than $7 billion global flu market.
"Vaccines are already doing this," said Dr. Glanville. "The Gardasil vaccine, which our CMO played a key role in developing, reduced the national incidence of multiple cancer types, and was, in effect, an anti-cancer vaccine. The Zostavax vaccine, which our CMO also spearheaded, has been recently demonstrated to reduce Alzheimer's and heart disease. We believe that universal vaccines can take us further."
Government Support and Funding
In addition to venture backing, Centivax has secured $24 million to date in competitive, non-dilutive awards, beginning with a $2 million "Grand Challenge: End the Pandemic Threat" grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Additional awards came from CEPI, the National Institutes of Health, the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program, and the U.S. Naval Medical Research Command.
"This financing positions us to deliver on the U.S. government's stated goal of a universal influenza vaccine within five years and to extend our platform to other high-impact diseases that needlessly weigh on our medical systems and our lives," said Glanville.
The technology's broad potential extends beyond infectious disease protection to improving healthspan by reducing long-term complications that pathogens can trigger, including cancer, autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease.
