Manatee biotech company gets $9.6M grant for HIV prevention

A Manatee County biotechnology company has received a $9.6 million grant from the Gates Foundation to advance a below-the-skin implant that delivers HIV prevention medicine.

Continuity Biosciences developed the implant to deliver the medication for multiple years after one insertion under the skin. It is to be used as an alternative to daily oral pills and periodic injections, providing those at risk of HIV with an option that requires fewer doses and clinic visits.

"For many people, the challenge in HIV prevention is not the availability of effective medicines, but the burden of staying protected consistently over time," Continuity Biosciences CEO and co-founder Ramakrishna "Krishna" Venugopalan says in a statement. "A prevention option designed to provide protection for years could fundamentally change what is possible, particularly in communities where access to healthcare is limited."

The grant will help Continuity Biosciences conduct studies of the drug.

“This support allows us to move that science from the laboratory toward a first-in-human evaluation,” Continuity Biosciences Chief Scientific Advisor and co-founder Alessandro Grattoni says in the statement.

As part of the grant, the company has agreed to make the HIV drug available at an affordable price to those most in need in low- and middle-income countries. Nearly 41 million people worldwide are living with HIV, according to the Gates Foundation, which says that more than half are in eastern and southern Africa.

Continuity Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision drug delivery platforms. In addition to HIV prevention, the business is applying its technology across type 1 diabetes, endocrinology, oncology and medical aesthetics.