State support for a Finnish Covid nasal spray comes up short.
Finnish nasal spray vaccine firm continues its search for investors.
Image: Janne Järvinen / Yle
A Finnish Covid vaccine company says it risks private investors withdrawing from the endeavour after the state investment agency Business Finland said it would not cover the full cost of a clinical trial.
In April, Rokote Laboratories Finland, the company that developed the vaccine, applied for a grant from the public financier that would have covered 80 percent of the costs of the vaccine’s test phases.
Private funders had tentatively agreed to join the project if the state would ensure that clinical trials would not be interrupted due to lack of funding. That said, the company has not yet signed contracts with private financiers.
Rokote Laboratories Finland Ltd., a newly-founded academic spin-out based in Finland is working to develop and introduce to the markets a nasal spray vaccine against COVID. The vaccine is based on research carried out at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.
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New academic spin-out based in Finland introduces a nasal spray vaccine against COVID
Mar 8 2021
Rokote Laboratories Finland Ltd., a newly-founded academic spin-out based in Finland is working to develop and introduce to the markets a nasal spray vaccine against COVID. The vaccine is based on research carried out at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.
Image Credit: University of Eastern Finland
The vaccine uses gene transfer technology developed at the University of Eastern Finland by Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala s research group, and the technology has already been successfully used in several clinical trials using gene therapy to treat cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
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University of Helsinki and University of Eastern Finland shareholders in a Finnish COVID vaccine company
Rokote Laboratories Finland Ltd., is a newly-founded, Finnish academic spin-out working to develop and introduce to the markets a nasal spray vaccine against COVID. The vaccine is based on research carried out at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.
The founders and board members of the company are the vaccine developers Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala from the University of Eastern Finland, Professor Kalle Saksela and Professor Kari Alitalo from the University of Helsinki, and Mr Pasi Kemppainen, MSc (Techn.). The University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland are also co-founders of, and shareholders in, the company.