Bio Usawa and Nanoly Sign $500M Deal to Eliminate Vaccine Cold Chain
Bio Usawa, a biopharmaceutical access firm, and Nanoly Bioscience, a chemical stabilization company, announced a $500 million licensing agreement for DynaShield™ technology. The partnership aims to eliminate the need for cold-chain refrigeration for vaccines and biologics, a significant barrier to global distribution.
- Nanoly's DynaShield™ technology utilizes a specialized polymer scaffold to create a hydrogel matrix that encapsulates and shields biologics from thermal degradation. The base polymer is Polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and FDA-approved for injection. - The deal gives Bio Usawa exclusive, worldwide rights to use and sublicense DynaShield™, not only for its own portfolio but also for third-party biologics and vaccines, allowing for broad commercial deployment. - The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50% of vaccines are wasted globally each year, with failures in the cold chain being a primary cause. The healthcare sector's supply chain contributes significantly to its overall 4.4% share of global greenhouse gas emissions. - A simulation of a thermostable meningitis vaccine rollout in Niger demonstrated that it would free up significant cold storage space, alleviating supply chain bottlenecks. A separate analysis in Chad showed that moving to a "controlled temperature chain" cut logistics costs by 50% per person vaccinated. - Bio Usawa is focused on building local biomanufacturing capacity in Africa, including a recent deal to bring self-contained, modular manufacturing units to Kigali, Rwanda, to produce monoclonal antibodies. - Prior to this commercial agreement, Nanoly Bioscience partnered with the non-profit Helena to offer DynaShield at no cost to developers of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics to accelerate its testing and validation.
