SpyBiotech

SpyBiotech is a biomedical company in United Kingdom that developed a method to bind antigens to virus like particles (VLPs) for vaccine development. The company focuses on producing vaccines more quickly, cheaply and effectively. Founded 2017 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom by Sumi Biswas, SpyBiotech has raised a total of £4M in funding over one round. This was a seed round raised on March 30, 2017. The company is funded by two investors, with Oxford Sciences Innovation and GV as the most recent investors. It operates a biotechnology platform intended to generate next-generation vaccines. The company's biotechnology platform is designed to develop vaccines using a proprietary protein superglue called SpyTag/SpyCatcher, which is used to attach antigens to VLPs. The goal of the technology is to provide medical institutions and research centers with a technology that could allow the development of better vaccines in less time.

SpyTag/SpyCatcher technology uses a protein from the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes split into two parts. The SpyTag peptide can be bound to antigens and the SpyCatcher portion binds to a virus like particle (VLP). VLPs are multiprotein structure that mimic viruses but lack viral genomes and are not infectious. VLPS are used in vaccine development. The process involves binding antigens to the coat proteins of VLPS. The SpyTag/SpyCatcher technology aims to do this in a more controlled and reliable manner compared with conventional techniques. The two pieces of the original SpyTag/SpyCatcher protein bind back together and form an unbreakable covalent bond. The technology is based on the observation that bacterial proteins like pilins and adhesins have endogenous isopeptide bonds. The term “Plug-and-Display” is used for his ability to separate antigen and scaffold production through modular assembly.

The company is developing a vaccine against human cytomegalovirus (CMV) and they have initiated GMP manufacturing of their CMV candidate.