Gates, Farmington Firm Team Up To Fight Respiratory Viruses

FARMINGTON, CT — A locally-based pharmaceutical company has recently received some big-name help in its quest to create treatments for respiratory diseases that are wreaking havoc on the population.

RIGImmune Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of RNA immunotherapeutics, announced Dec. 6 new funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The funding will advance the company’s work regarding the treatment of respiratory illnesses caused by RNA viruses.

RIGImmune is one of first development companies to receive an Accelerator Program-Related Investment (“PRI”) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Strategic Investment Fund.

This new funding is in addition to a Gates Foundation grant award RIGImmune received last year to initiate work targeting stem loop molecules for influenza to antiviral treatments.

“This new program-related investment from the Gates Foundation will enable RIGImmune to accelerate our efforts to develop effective treatments and potentially vaccine adjuvants for influenza and other respiratory disease caused by RNA viruses,” said Dr. Susan Sobolov, president of RIGImmune Inc.

“With the support of the Gates Foundation, we desire to bring effective treatments and adjuvants to patients around the global who suffer from debilitating respiratory diseases.”

RIGImmune, with support from the Gates Foundation, is working to develop an intranasal antiviral that can be distributed globally and have immense impact on improving the health in developing countries.

Existing direct-acting antiviral drugs are only marginally effective in patients with serious disease and the emergence of multiple viral variants.

RIGImmune recently completed an agreement with Yale University in New Haven for an exclusive license to certain Intellectual Property related to the stem loop RNAs developed at Yale.

For more information on RIGImmune, click on this link.

For more information on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, click on this link.