American depositary shares of Vaccitech fell nearly 20% in their Nasdaq debut on Friday, giving the co-inventor of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University a market value of about $464 million. The UK-based company was started by two Oxford University scientists and spun out of the university's Jenner Institute in 2016. Vaccitech said it planned to use the proceeds from the IPO to fund the development of its COVID-19 vaccine technology for treatments targeting prostate cancer, hepatitis B HPV and non-small cell lung cancer. The company's vaccine technology uses an altered form of chimpanzee cold virus to transport genetic material that can help boost the human immune system and fight infection. The biotech startup has already raised $216 million to date from Gilead Sciences, Sequoia Capital China and Oxford Sciences Innovation.

Source: Mint April 30, 2021 16:52 UTC