Vaxess Announces $12M in Funding

Rachel Sha joins Vaxess as CEO to lead company’s next phase of growth 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 22, 2024 — Vaxess Technologies, Inc., a life sciences company developing a shelf-stable MIMIX skin patch for vaccines and therapeutics, today announced that the company has received $12 million in additional funding. Investors included RA Capital Management, Engine Ventures, GHIC, and Mission Bio Capital. This brings Vaxess’s total equity and non-dilutive funding to more than $90 million. 

Today, Vaxess is also announcing the appointment of Rachel Sha to CEO, as Michael Schrader steps down from the position. Sha has spent more than 20 years working in life sciences including large biopharma companies like Novartis, Genzyme, and Sanofi. Most recently, Sha spent a decade at Sanofi, where she served in a number of leadership roles across the organization. As vice president of digital strategy, partnering, and governance at the company, Sha led negotiations and deal execution, and signed major deals that ranged hundreds to billions in deal size — collaborating with big tech, startups, and payers. Additionally, at Genzyme, Sha worked on biomaterials-based products at the intersection of medical devices and biologics, helping to guide strategic decisions around research and product commercialization.

“I look forward to leading the Vaxess team as we work towards applying the MIMIX patch to many next-generation therapeutics and vaccines in partnership with life science leaders,” said Sha. “I’d also like to thank Michael for his incredible leadership at Vaxess over the last decade. What started as just an idea has evolved into a company that’s developed the most promising skin patch for drug delivery.” 

Sha is joining Vaxess during a time of significant growth for the company. Vaxess has recently demonstrated feasibility of GLP-1 delivery, and partnered with leading biopharma companies in vaccines (mRNA and non-mRNA). The funding will be used to advance GLP-1, continue in vivo work with mRNA, and expand and scale manufacturing process capabilities in support of new partnerships to deliver next generation vaccines and therapeutics.

“Over the last year, Vaxess has made significant progress in demonstrating the commercial viability of its industry-leading skin patch for drug delivery, from successfully conducting its first human trials to forming new partnerships with global biopharma companies,” said RA Capital Management Venture Partner and Head of Infectious Diseases Mario Barro. “We are thrilled to continue to back Vaxess as the company moves to expand its partnerships with leading biopharma companies, and look forward to the day when people use Vaxess’s MIMIX patches to receive a range of vaccines and therapeutics from the comfort of their homes.” 

About Vaxess

Vaxess Technologies is transforming home delivery of next generation therapies and vaccines.

Vaxess's MIMIX™ platform combines a proprietary microarray patch and applicator, capable of delivering a wide range of therapies and vaccines. Advanced biomaterials used for the dissolvable microarray tips enable the greatest levels of dose delivery control, and can be modified to deliver different payloads. Additionally, Vaxess’s MIMIX patch does not require refrigeration, enabling delivery to low resource settings.

Vaxess has raised grant and venture capital funding from groups such as RA Capital Management, Engine Ventures, GHIC, Mission BioCapital, BARDA, DARPA, NIH, NSF and the Gates Foundation. The company has also generated strong clinical and in-vivo proof of concept in the MIMIX platform with a wide range of molecules. For more information, please visit the company website at www.vaxess.com or send additional inquiries to contact@vaxess.com.