Montana biotech company Inimmune Corporation receives $ 598K Small Business Innovation Research contract to advance vaccine technologies

Inimmune Corporation, a biotechnology company located in Missoula, MT, was recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award of $ 598,808 from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The contract will fund early discovery research efforts at Inimmune to develop new synthetic adjuvants which can be produced as single chemical entities on large scale, with high potency, low toxicity, and increased chemical stability.

The lead researchers and co-principal investigators on this award, Drs. Omer Rasheed and Kendal Ryter, are excited to lead the effort at Inimmune to complete this research and develop novel synthetic adjuvants for application in immunotherapy and vaccines, particularly against infectious highly pathogenic coronaviruses at the end of the two-year contract. Dr. Rasheed, an Investigator and medicinal chemist 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 vaccine adjuvants and innovative technologies”.

“This award will support the discovery and development of a strong adjuvant and immunotherapy pipeline at Inimmune and will help the company advance novel treatments for some of the worlds most deadly diseases,” stated Dr. Kendal Ryter, Inimmune co-founder and VP of Product Development.

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) and they work in close collaboration with researchers at the University of Montana’s Center for Translational Medicine to form a unique public-private partnership to foster innovation and retain high tech Montana jobs.

For more information about Inimmune please visit http://www.Inimmune.com or contact Dr. Omer Rasheed

at [email protected] or Dr. Kendal Ryter at [email protected].