Earlier this month, New Orleans-based biotech company MiniVax announced that they received key funding in the form of a National Institutes of Health’s National Institute for Allergies and Infections Diseases STTR Advanced Technology grant to advance a novel vaccine for preventing pneumocystis pneumonia, a deadly fungal infection of the lung in patients with compromised immune systems.
Currently there are no effective treatments for this disease. The research will be completed by MiniVax in partnership with the lab of Dr. Jay Kolls at LSU Health Sciences Center, who is also the inventor of the MiniVax technology.
Phase I of the technology transfer grant provides $600,000 in funding over the next two years to translate today’s promising academic innovations into next generation products for treating and preventing fungal diseases.
MiniVax is a LSUHSC-NO spinout company and is being incubated at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC). They also pitched at the Coulter Challenge back in March during the Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.