SutroVax (sutrovax.com) has reeled in a whopping $64 million to get them well into human studies for a new vaccine that will challenge the Pfizer NYSE:PFE) mega block buster Prevnar 13 for the heavyweight title in its field. With the money, the Bay Area biotech will now about double its current staff of 14 — which also relies on a lineup of consultants to flesh out the organization.

Written by John Carroll

When SutroVax was spun out of Sutro about four years ago, the biotech [company] took along a conjugation platform that was repurposed for developing a new brand of vaccines and now that they are aiming for the clinic with a lead pneumococcal vaccine...[which] they believe can more effectively stitch together antigens to a carrier protein that can ultimately target a laundry list of bacteria while amping up a T cell response directed at the target.

Prevnar 13 is a conjugated vaccine which goes after 13 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae. It earned about $6 billion last year, which is why some upstarts like Affinivax Inc. (affinivax.com) in Cambridge, MA are also looking at new and different ways to bind multiple polysaccharides to proteins and do Prevnar 13 multiple strains better. (Affinivax uses a different platform tech, steering clear of traditional conjugation.)

“If you could have Prevnar 24,” says SutroVax CEO Grant Pickering, “that would be the best case scenario. That is what we are looking to do... Prevnar is a phenomenal vaccine. It’s wildly effective, but not as broad spectrum as people would like it.” Making 24 vaccines is no simple task, and SutroVax isn’t planning to jump into the clinic overnight. The IND is likely going to arrive in 2019, says Pickering.

Venture capital firm Frazier Healthcare Partners (frazierhealthcare.com) and the brand new biotech fund Pivotal bioVenture Partners (pivitalbiopc.com) led the round, joining a syndicate that included participation from all existing investors: Abingworth (abingworth.com), Longitude Capital (longitudecapital.com), Roche Venture Fund (roche.com/venturefund) and CTI Life Sciences Fund (ctisciences.com). The existing investors also chipped in $4 million, on top of the $60 million round, to complete their Series A commitments - and Pickering says the total raised so far now comes to $88 million, a substantial bet in the vaccine field.