- Scinai Immunotherapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative immunotherapeutic products, recently finalized a major rebrand, changing its corporate name from BiondVax Pharmaceuticals
- The rebrand is part of a series of steps to better reflect the company’s new direction and new developments aimed at new scientific breakthroughs
- Amir Reichman took over as CEO in March 2021 and together with the Board of Directors, began implementing a raft of changes aimed at redirecting the company’s focus and diversifying corporate risks
- Scinai is developing a pipeline of novel NanoAbs, with its development pipeline including NanoAbs for the treatment of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, asthma, macular degeneration, and Hidradenitis Suppurativa
- The company is intensifying its pipeline development, identifying additional opportunities, and developing novel solutions for large-market unmet needs in 2023 and beyond
When Amir Reichman took over the reins as CEO of the then-named BiondVax Pharmaceuticals in March 2021, he and the Board of Directors embarked on redefining the biotechnology company’s mission and vision. “Our new mission reflects an aspiration to focus on infectious diseases, which leverages [the company’s] core competencies, while ensuring fdiversification of our corporate risks through the establishment of a new, broad product and platform pipeline,” shared Reichman in his first letter to shareholders (https://ibn.fm/oyYwX).
Reichman expressed his intent to rejuvenate the company by implementing a strategy that would diversify the risk along four main axes, including building a pipeline of products for both prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and related illnesses; building a pipeline that would present various routes of drug delivery; building a pipeline that would rely on various platforms; and building a pipeline of products at different stages of clinical development. “If successfully implemented, this strategy would provide [the company] with a robust and diverse multi-dimensional pipeline,” continued Reichman.
Over the two years since that initiation, the company has revamped its senior management team and pharmaceuticals development programs. Additionally, as part of its diversification strategy, the company has expanded into the Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (“CDMO”) business. Together, these changes represent a fresh start for the company as it journeys toward a new strategic objective. As part of this journey, the company also recently finalized a major rebrand, debuting as Scinai Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ: SCNI) on Nasdaq as of September 7 this year (https://ibn.fm/5Op2c).
“The biotech sector has been through an extremely challenging time in the past 18-24 months, with low stock prices and scarce capital. We have nevertheless made tremendous progress executing our turnaround program with limited resources and believe we are at the cusp of building a significant and successful company,” commented Reichman in the news release. “We have a sharp commercial focus and a pipeline with blockbuster potential, steeped in science, strong leadership, and an expertly designed technological base. Building on promising data of our initial NanoAb therapies, we look forward to continuing our current pipeline development and also identifying additional opportunities and developing novel solutions for unmet needs in 2023 and beyond.”
Anchoring Scinai’s renewed commercial focus and pipeline development is a robust collaboration with the Max Planck Society, the parent organization of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (“MPI”), and the University Medical Center Göttingen (“UMG”), both in Germany, to develop innovative alpaca-derived nanosized antibodies (“NanoAbs”) (https://ibn.fm/Y1e4d).
The NanoAbs are approximately one-tenth the size of standard monoclonal antibodies (“mAbs”) and are designed to overcome the limitations of existing antibody therapies. For instance, NanoAbs may be effective at extremely low concentrations, which translates to fewer side effects. Moreover, they are expected to have better tissue penetration because of their small size and have demonstrated superior thermostability, which, according to Scinai, could translate to superior shelf life, easier transportation, and more convenient routes of administration. These favorable and unique attributes bolster the company’s efforts to create ‘biobetter’ therapeutics that address large and underserved markets.
In early June, Scinai, in exercise of its broad-based collaboration agreement with Max Planck Society and UMG, signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop and commercialize NanoAbs targeting interleukin-17 (“IL-17”), an immune system cytokine, as treatments for all potential indications, including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Hidradenitis Suppurativa (https://ibn.fm/twpTX). Beyond that, the company’s NanoAb development pipeline also includes anti-IL-13 and anti-TSLP therapeutics for the treatment of asthma and anti-Ang-2 and anti-VEGF therapeutics for the treatment of age-related wet macular degeneration.
This pipeline approach, Scinai says, affords it considerable flexibility with respect to partnering and extending its assets, opening enhanced potential to generate income through license fees, milestone payment, and royalties, in return for participation in associated R&D costs. To complement its R&D operations, the company also launched Scinai Bioservices, a new business unit that will provide a multitude of CDMO services to support biotechnology companies through process development and GMP manufacturing.
“I’d like Scinai to be internationally recognized for scientific excellence in drug development that is done in the fastest, sharpest way and with the highest quality possible. I want Scinai to be the go-to company for large multinational companies seeking innovative technology and partners that excel in drug development and that can bring their return on investment much faster,” shared Reichman in a video published recently on the company’s YouTube channel (https://ibn.fm/HjOl7).
The name change only reinforces the mission and commitment of Jerusalem-based Scinai Immunotherapeutics to develop, manufacture, and commercialize potential blockbuster immunotherapeutic products for the treatment of infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. Expect to hear lots more from this innovative biotech company in the months to come.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Scinai.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SCNI are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SCNI
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