DelSiTech Secures Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Advance Silica-Based Molecular Delivery Platform for HIV Prevention and Treatment

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on May 21, local time in Finland, the biopharmaceutical company DelSiTech received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will support the company’s development of silica-based molecular delivery matrices, accelerating global efforts in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

DelSiTech, established in 2001 and headquartered in Turku, Finland, is a company specializing in the development of drug delivery technologies and new drug research and development. The company’s primary products are drug delivery devices capable of transporting a wide range of pharmaceutical molecules, from small-molecule compounds to viral vectors, with the delivered drugs predominantly used for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

DelSiTech has developed dozens of silica formulations for the storage of small-molecule compounds with varying sizes, water solubility, thermal stability, and intolerance to organic solvents, with storage durations ranging from days to months. Furthermore, these silica matrices can also deliver macromolecules, including peptides, antibodies, RNA, DNA, and complex carbohydrates. The release rate of proteins encapsulated within the silica matrix is tightly controlled, and their biological activity is comprehensively preserved.

The company’s silica matrix also supports drug injection. In existing drug therapies, medications administered in capsule or granule form reach human cells randomly, achieving only 50%–60% of the target therapeutic efficacy. By utilizing DelSiTech’s silica matrix to deliver drugs into the human body—particularly therapeutic RNA molecules or DNA plasmids—the medication can be targeted specifically to diseased tissues, thereby enhancing treatment efficacy and reducing adverse effects on healthy tissues.

The company plans to utilize funds from its latest round of financing to develop silica-based technologies for the preservation and delivery of viral vectors. Viral vectors are widely used in modern medicine; however, they rapidly lose activity and therapeutic value once removed from living cells, making long-distance transport a persistent challenge that the industry has been striving to address.

DelSiTech’s silica matrix contains a high water content, allowing all research steps in aqueous solutions to be conducted at low temperatures, thereby preserving viral activity. Prior to receiving the grant, the company’s clinical trials had successfully extended the duration of maintained bioactivity of the viral vector to one month.

Moreover, a key feature of silica-encapsulated viruses is that healthcare institutions can store the products at room temperature. Currently, most gene therapy products require storage at -80°C; however, DelSiTech’s silica matrix allows for 18 months of stability at either room temperature or 4°C, effectively reducing medical costs.

DelSiTech CEO Lasse Leino stated, “We are grateful for the trust placed in us by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment being a global priority, this funding will enable us to further develop related pharmaceuticals and make greater contributions to the medical field.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Melinda Gates and William Gates in 1997 and headquartered in Washington State, USA, is dedicated to investing in the early and late stages of startup development, having completed 101 investments to date.

(Compiled by Liu Yujing)