Missoula, Montana biotech company Inimmune Corporation receives $2 M Small Business Innovation Research Grant to advance vaccine technologies

Inimmune Corporation, a biotechnology company located in Missoula, MT, was recently awarded a $2 M grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct to Phase II program to advance a novel adjuvant and delivery system for vaccines.

Adjuvants are vaccine components that stimulate and direct the immune system to enhance immunity to a vaccine. Through this SBIR grant, Inimmune will advance a proprietary synthetic vaccine adjuvant through innovative formulation and delivery technologies. The team will advance a stable and safe adjuvant delivery platform that elicits strong immune responses against a variety of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

The lead researchers and co-principal investigators on this award, Drs. Shannon Miller and David Burkhart, are excited to lead the effort at Inimmune to complete this research and develop a new adjuvant system ready for clinical evaluation at the end of the two year contract. Dr. Miller, an Investigator and immunologist at Inimmune, stated “It’s exciting to work on projects that will advance the field of vaccine science and increase the availability of safe and effective vaccine adjuvants. Particularly given the current COVID-19 pandemic, it’s great to see so much interest and investment in new vaccines and innovative technologies”.

“This award builds on a strong adjuvant and immunotherapy pipeline at Inimmune and will help the company advance novel vaccines and treatments closer to testing in human clinical trials,” stated Dr. David Burkhart, Inimmune co-founder and Chief Operating Officer.

Inimmune was co-founded in 2016 by a team of experienced industry researchers with the aim to harness the human immune system and create next generation immunotherapeutics. The team spent more than 20 years together working in Hamilton, MT prior to forming Inimmune in Missoula, MT. Their laboratories and offices are housed in the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC).

For more information about Inimmune please visit http://www.Inimmune.com or contact Dr. Shannon Miller at [email protected] or Dr. David Burkhart at [email protected].