Biotech Start-up Awarded Callaghan Innovation Project Grant

Nelson biotech start-up Kimer Med has been awarded a 2021-22 Project Grant from Callaghan Innovation. The funding will provide a boost to the company’s antiviral protein development work, by reimbursing $150,000 of its eligible research and development costs over the next two years.

Kimer Med co-founder and CEO, Rick Kiessig, said he was thrilled to receive the Callaghan Grant.

“Antiviral drugs will be increasingly important to treat the vast range of viral disease that affects humans and animals. As we’ve seen recently with Covid-19, viruses tend to mutate and eventually evade vaccines, which is why a broad-spectrum antiviral that can effectively and safely treat viral infection is so important.”

Viruses such as Influenza, HIV, Dengue, Hepatitis and SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) cause widespread illness and death and inflict enormous harm on human health and economies worldwide. Kimer Med is developing a broad-spectrum antiviral medication which has shown the potential to treat a wide range of viral diseases.

The inspiration for the company's formation came from research originally carried out at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by Dr Todd Rider and others. Rider's ground-breaking work was originally published in a 2011 paper in PLoS ONE called 'Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics'. In it he demonstrated a recombinant protein that was effective against 15 different viruses in 11 tissue types in vitro, and against Influenza H1N1 in mice.

"Kimer Med has signed an exclusive license with MIT, allowing us to pick up and continue with the antiviral work that Rider and his team began. Our current focus is on testing and refining the structure and fabrication of the antiviral protein compound, called VTose®, with the goal of carrying this innovation through to clinical trials", said Kiessig.

“The support of Callaghan Innovation will help us accelerate our R&D efforts and tackle a number of experiments with greater breadth and depth than we might otherwise be able to.”

Callaghan Innovation is New Zealand's innovation agency. It activates innovation, accelerates commercialisation and helps businesses grow faster for a better New Zealand. The 2021-22 Project Grant supports R&D by co-funding eligible spending up to a cap of $150,000.

About Kimer Med

Founded in August 2020, Kimer Med is a New Zealand company, based in Nelson, with an office in Idaho Falls, ID, USA. Backed by a multi-million dollar seed funding round, the company has a core team of four, plus specialist R&D teams in Auckland, New Zealand and Maryland, USA. Kimer Med's vision is the end of viral disease in humans, pets and livestock.

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