BRNS

Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing immunotherapies for chronic infectious diseases and cancer. Headquartered in Oxford, United Kingdom, Barinthus (formerly Vaccitech) utilizes its proprietary heterologous prime-boost platform combining viral vectors to generate potent and durable T cell responses. The company's approach aims to train the immune system to recognize and eliminate diseased cells, with applications in therapeutic vaccines for chronic infections like hepatitis B and herpes simplex virus, as well as cancer immunotherapies. Barinthus' lead program is VTP-300, a therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B infection designed to achieve functional cure by training T cells to eliminate HBV-infected liver cells. The company is conducting clinical trials evaluating VTP-300 in HBV patients, including combination studies with antiviral therapies. Additional programs include VTP-200 for herpes simplex virus (HSV), VTP-1000 series for cancer indications, and platform technology that can potentially be applied to various diseases. Barinthus' platform technology involves sequential administration of different viral vectors (adenovirus and Modified Vaccinia Ankara) encoding the same antigen, generating robust CD8+ T cell responses superior to single-vector approaches. The company addresses significant unmet needs in chronic viral infections where current therapies suppress but don't cure infections, and in cancer where activating tumor-specific T cell immunity could provide therapeutic benefits. Barinthus was spun out from research at Oxford University and maintains strong academic collaborations. The company has established partnerships with pharmaceutical companies for certain programs. Success depends on demonstrating compelling clinical efficacy, completing regulatory pathways, securing partnerships or financing for later-stage development, and establishing that its heterologous prime-boost platform generates therapeutically meaningful immune responses. Barinthus continues advancing its pipeline while working to validate the therapeutic vaccine approach in diseases where training T cell immunity offers potential curative or long-term disease control benefits.