Dr Pascal Hickey from Aravax (left) and Dr Chris Smith from Brandon Capital (right). 

Overview

  • Brandon Capital is one of 3 private equity partners in the Australian Government’s Biomedical Translation Fund (BTF).
  • Aravax is developing disease-modifying treatments for food allergies, based on original research from Alfred Health and Monash University.
  • Support from Brandon Capital through the BTF has enabled Aravax to progress its PVX108 peanut allergy candidate to an international Phase 2 clinical trial.

About Brandon Capital

Brandon Capital is a leading life science venture capital firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, San Francisco and London. Its BioCatalyst fund focuses on seeding early-stage biomedical innovations.

Through the BTF, Brandon BioCatalyst (MCRF-BTF Fund) has invested $12.9 million into Aravax’s PVX108 project.

Australia is a globally recognised producer of research, but turning novel research into a therapy with the potential to improve lives takes investment. The BTF is plugging that investment gap. Without the commercialisation funding, research won’t make it out of the lab.
— Dr Chris Smith, Brandon Capital

Aravax and research into a treatment for peanut allergy

Peanut allergy is a rapidly growing problem worldwide, causing serious and sometimes life-threatening reactions that currently cannot be predicted or prevented. Sufferers need to be constantly vigilant about accidental ingestion, which places stress on them and on their families and carers.

Aravax was founded in 2015 to refine and commercialise a new form of peptide immunotherapy developed by researchers at Alfred Health and Monash.

Aravax has identified the key fragments of the allergen that are critical for immune recognition and memory, and engineered peptides (PVX108) that mimic these fragments. An injection of PVX108 is designed to reprogram immune cells to tolerate the allergen. This approach has the potential to produce a safe, sustained treatment effect reducing the risk of reaction.

How investment from Brandon Capital has helped

Brandon Capital first learned about the research into PVX108 through Alfred Health, a Brandon BioCatalyst member. The Aravax founding team had been looking for funding for more than a year. They had a potential candidate ready to go into clinical trials but not the money to conduct them. At that time there were very few options for life sciences venture capital in Australia.

Seed funding from Brandon Capital enabled them to license the intellectual property, set up Aravax and run phase 1 clinical trials in Australia. The data these trials produced was the catalyst for bringing additional investment from both Australian and overseas venture capital.

Following the successful phase 1 safety trials, PVX108 received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration, the key regulator, for phase 2 clinical trials in the US. In January 2023 Aravax completed a Series B funding round with US$42 million to fund the expansion of the phase 2 trials.

We are at the forefront globally in terms of producing the next generation of immunotherapy. Without the early support from the BTF we wouldn’t be where we are today. It was the key to enabling us to produce the data we needed to secure additional local and international investment.
— Dr Pascal Hickey, Aravax

As well as potentially freeing peanut allergy sufferers and their families from constant fear and preventing devastating reactions, the commercial success of PVX108 would:

  • increase company-building capabilities in the Australian biotech sector
  • give Australians early access to innovative therapies
  • create research and clinical trial jobs.

Aravax’s success will encourage other Australian biotechnology researchers and companies to pursue commercialisation from Australia.

Australia produces amazing research and we want to see more of it turned into therapies that save lives and improve wellbeing globally.
— Dr Chris Smith, Brandon Capital

Biomedical Translation Fund

Developing biotechnology into a viable product is a long and uncertain process. By setting up the BTF on a co-investment model, the Australian Government has provided a way for venture capital firms to invest in cutting-edge Australian biotechnology at an earlier stage than would normally be possible. For research-based startups, this is a game-changer.

The BTF has been critical for catalysing venture capital. That funding has enabled research to produce more candidates for commercialisation, which has brought in more investors and experienced people. More people from overseas are coming back to Australia because the biotech sector has matured.
— Dr Chris Smith, Brandon Capital
Without the initial BTF funding, Aravax would not be where it is today.
— Dr Chris Smith, Brandon Capital

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