Icosavax, a company that is involved in developing vaccines against infectious diseases, has launched a USD51m Series A financing, led by Qiming Venture Partners USA and joined by Adams Street Partners, Sanofi Ventures and NanoDimension, with continuing support from its seed investors, it was reported on Friday.

The funds will be utilised to advance the Phase 1b clinical studies of the company's first vaccine candidate, IVX-121, intended for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus for older adults.

Adam Simpson, chief executive officer of Icosavax, said, 'Working closely with the Institute for Protein Design, we started Icosavax with seed funding from its philanthropic supporters. This support allowed us to assemble a world-class team and to help translate the scientific insights from IPD into IVX-121, our lead candidate for RSV. We are thrilled with the quality of the investor syndicate we have built who provide both significant expertise and financial support to enable advancement of IVX-121 into the clinic and the application of our VLP technology to a whole class of vaccine targets with significant unmet medical needs.'