ImmunAdd, a privately held pharmaceutical company developing a fully synthetic, rationally designed, saponin-based small molecule vaccine adjuvant, attended the Vaccines Summit 2022 in Washington DC on October 11-13.

Founder of ImmunAdd, Pi-Hui Liang, said “My team and I were delighted to attend the Vaccines Summit, an internationally renowned academic conference, where we presented a poster describing our state-of-the art vaccine adjuvant IA-05 and our business development team met with companies from all over the world.”

The IA-05 vaccine adjuvant

IA-05 is a fully synthetic, rationally designed, saponin-based small molecule vaccine adjuvant which that has demonstrated improved tolerability and elicited improved enhanced immune responses compared with QS-21 in COVID, influenza, and anti-cancer vaccines. IA-05 can therefore enable the development of safer, more effective, and more durable vaccines and address the crisis faced by the South American soap bark tree (Quillaja Saponaria), which is being unsustainably harvested for QS-21 production. IA-05 is being tested in vaccines by several biopharmaceutical companies from different countries.

About Saponin adjuvants

Saponin adjuvants are potent immune stimulators and important essential components of clinically-advanced infectious disease vaccines, including those against shingles, malaria, COVID-19, influenza, and cancer, combined sales of billions of dollars. Existing saponin adjuvants are limited by poor clinical tolerability and inefficient manufacturing. They are unsustainably sourced from the inner lining of the bark of the Quillaja Saponaria tree, which grows only in parts of South America.

About ImmunAdd

ImmunAdd is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company on a mission to improve health through advances in adjuvant design and formulation. ImmunAdd was founded in 2021 by Professor Pi-Hui Liang of the School of Pharmacy, NTU, and has raised USD$1 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the Ministry of Economic and Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan.