BRIEF—Blue Water Vaccines inks option dial with Oxford University

Privately-held New York-based Blue Water Vaccines has entered into an option agreement with the University of Oxford in the UK providing the company with the option to exclusively license a novel and potentially revolutionary universal influenza vaccine.

Blue Water Vaccines will complete its fund-raising of $15 million to support the flu vaccine program.

Developed by scientists at Oxford University and published in Nature Communications in 2018, the vaccine protects against all influenza strains by targeting parts of the virus that induce a protective immune response but are also limited in variability.

The technology has the potential of providing life-long immunity against flu, according to the company.