A promising new startup, Ovax Inc., secured $10 million in funding to advance the development of a groundbreaking vaccine designed to prevent fentanyl-related deaths.

The initiative focuses on commercializing academic research aimed at preventing the potent opioid from reaching the brain, reported Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Ovax obtained licensing for intellectual property from University of Houston researchers who successfully tested a fentanyl vaccine in rats. The company, which officially launches this week, is set to begin human trials early next year.

If successful, the vaccine would block the euphoric effects and deadly overdoses caused by fentanyl. Unlike naloxone, which can reverse a fentanyl overdose if administered promptly, the Ovax vaccine aims to prevent overdoses by neutralizing the drug’s effects before they manifest.

"The science is there," said JR Rahn, the startup's co-founder. "It just takes someone to be persistent" to bring it to market. Rahn previously founded Mind Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ:MNMD), one of the first psychedelic medicine companies to go public. He correctly called the fentanyl crisis a "public health emergency."

Deadly Drug

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 107,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2021 mainly due to fentanyl. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, claimed 204 lives daily on average in 2023.

Rahn, who left MindMed in 2021, began to focus on the fentanyl epidemic before founding Ovax last year. He spearheaded the initial funding round through his family office, Mach5 Capital, in collaboration with his partner, crypto entrepreneur Olivier Roussy Newton, noted the outlet. The financing round also attracted contributions from approximately a dozen investors, including the Switzerland-based family office Zola Global and investor Jon Dishotsky.

Dishotsky praised Rahn as a visionary leader who has assembled a robust team capable of developing a life-saving product.

"This mission is personal," he said in a blog post announcing the startup. "Each member of our team of doctors, scientists, drug developers and financiers all have a deep connection to overdose and the resulting carnage it's continuously causing America."

Ovax’s leadership team includes CFO Stacy McIntosh, who previously oversaw regulatory affairs for Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and helped develop a monoclonal antibody therapeutic for Ebola. Collin Gage, the company’s CEO, formerly led corporate development and fundraising for MindMed.

Gage indicated that Ovax plans to conduct another funding round and will eventually need to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the fentanyl vaccine to market. “This isn’t some rushed project,” Gage said. “We’re repurposing existing vaccine technology.”

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