Industry: Biotechnology

Sector: Healthcare

Vaccinex, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on treating cancer and neurodegenerative disease through the inhibition of semaphorin 4D (SEMA4D). The company's lead drug candidate, pepinemab, blocks SEMA4D, a potent biological effector that prevents immune infiltration into tumors and triggers inflammation in chronic diseases of the brain. Pepinemab is being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 study in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer and in a Phase 1/2a study in Alzheimer's Disease, with ongoing exploration of potential Phase 3 development in Huntington's disease. It has also developed a proprietary drug discovery platform, ActivMAb that it is leveraging through strategic collaborations, by exploiting its unique capability to select antibodies against multi-pass membrane receptors. Vaccinex, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Rochester, New York.

Vaccinex Inc is evaluated using Mavefund's quality framework: growing earnings, durable profit margins, conservative leverage, strong return on equity, and disciplined share repurchases.