RocketVax
RocketVax AG is a Swiss biotech subsidiary of Swiss Rockets AG developing next-generation intranasal live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccines (RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS) using proprietary VIRUFLEX genome-recoding platform, partnered with NIH/NIAID, HALIX, and Emergent BioSolutions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersBasel, Switzerland
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What RocketVax does
RocketVax AG is a privately held Swiss biotechnology company, headquartered in Basel and operating as a subsidiary of Swiss Rockets AG. The company develops next-generation vaccines based on proprietary live-attenuated virus technology, with a primary focus on SARS-CoV-2 and a stated platform ambition to address additional infectious disease targets. Its two lead candidates, RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS (OTS-228), are intranasal live-attenuated vaccine candidates designed to induce both mucosal and systemic immunity, with the aim of preventing both infection and transmission of current and emerging COVID-19 variants.
The underlying technology platform, branded VIRUFLEX, integrates reverse genetic engineering, genome recoding (One-to-Stop / OTS mutations), and Single-Cycle Virus approaches to engineer safe, highly attenuated vaccine candidates. Preclinical data published in Cell Reports, Nature Microbiology, Molecular Therapy, Nature Communications, and npj Vaccines demonstrate safety, efficacy (approximately 3x higher than comparators in animal models), and genomic stability, including prevention of virus transmission in hamster models. Development is supported by collaborations with the University of Bern, University of Basel, Freie Universität Berlin, and Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, with GMP manufacturing provided by CDMO HALIX B.V. and U.S. clinical and commercial advancement anchored by NIH/NIAID Project NextGen sponsorship and a strategic partnership with Emergent BioSolutions.
The business model is pre-commercial: RocketVax expects to generate revenue through vaccine licensing and royalties, strategic partnership milestone payments, and non-dilutive grant funding. Go-to-market is executed via co-development with academic institutions, CDMO manufacturing partnerships, and pharmaceutical strategic alliances (notably Emergent BioSolutions for U.S. manufacturing and commercialization of four pipeline candidates). The company is participating in the SIX Swiss Exchange Sparks IPO Academy, indicating intent toward public-market readiness, though no public listing has occurred.
RocketVax firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- RocketVax
- Legal name
- RocketVax AG
- Website
- https://rocketvax.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- RocketVax AG is a Swiss biotech subsidiary of Swiss Rockets AG developing next-generation intranasal live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccines (RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS) using proprietary VIRUFLEX genome-recoding platform, partnered with NIH/NIAID, HALIX, and Emergent BioSolutions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
RocketVax industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Biotechnology Vaccines
- NAICS
- Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414)
- SIC
- Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Infectious Disease & Pandemic Preparedness Vaccines (emerging pathogens) (HLAAAEAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Prophylactic Human Vaccines (routine, pediatric, adult) (HLAAAEAA), Therapeutic Vaccines (cancer, chronic infection immunotherapy) (HLAAAEAB), Pandemic Preparedness & Rapid-Response Vaccines (HLAIAEAF)
Keywords
Where RocketVax is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Basel
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
RocketVax business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Vaccine Licensing and Royalties: Pre-revenue biotech company developing next-generation live-attenuated vaccines. Expected to generate revenue through licensing vaccine technology and receiving royalties from commercialized products upon successful clinical development and regulatory approval.
- Strategic Partnership Payments: Revenue expected from strategic partnerships including upfront payments, milestone payments, and commercialization royalties from partners like Emergent BioSolutions who will lead U.S. manufacturing and commercialization.
- Non-Dilutive Funding: Non-dilutive financial support from government sources including NIH/NIAID Project NextGen for clinical trial sponsorship, providing funding without equity dilution.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
RocketVax product offering
Product offeringCore offering
RocketVax AG develops next-generation live-attenuated virus vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases, using proprietary reverse genetic engineering and genome recoding technology delivered via the VIRUFLEX™ platform. Its lead candidates RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS (OTS-228) are needle-free intranasal spray vaccines designed to provide mucosal immunity, broader variant protection, and transmission blocking for current and emergent COVID-19 variants.
Product overview
Rocketvax AG is a Swiss biotech company developing next-generation vaccines based on live-attenuated virus technology. The company's core offerings include two lead vaccine candidates: RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS (OTS-228), both live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines administered via nasal spray. These vaccines leverage the proprietary VIRUFLEX™ platform which uses reverse genetic engineering technology. The platform enables rapid development of vaccines that offer broad protection against current and emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants through comprehensive immune activation including mucosal immunity at the respiratory tract entry point. All current products are in preclinical development stage with Phase 1 clinical trials in preparation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- VIRUFLEX: State-of-the-art endemic readiness platform designed to accelerate development and deployment of next-generation vaccines in response to future pandemics
- Viruflex
Products and services
- RVX-sCPD9 Lead live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate administered via nasal spray, demonstrated to elicit superior mucosal and systemic immunity to SARS-CoV-2 variants in preclinical studies; selected for the NIH/NIAID Project NextGen Phase 1 clinical trial.
- RVX-OTS (OTS-228) One-to-Stop (OTS) mutations SARS-CoV-2 live-attenuated vaccine candidate using a proprietary OTS genetic strategy for virus attenuation; demonstrated excellent safety, efficacy, genomic stability and transmission-blocking immunity against Omicron BA.2, BA.5 and XBB.1.5 in preclinical models.
- VIRUFLEX™ Platform Proprietary endemic readiness vaccine development platform integrating reverse genetic engineering, scalable production processes and global partnerships to accelerate development and deployment of next-generation vaccines for current and future pandemics.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3x higher efficacy in animal studies compared to conventional vaccine approaches
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use RocketVax
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
RocketVax technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
RocketVax partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and supporting.
- Emergent BioSolutionscoreStrategic investment and partnership for U.S. manufacturing and commercialization of four pipeline candidates (infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune disorders). Emergent to leverage manufacturing infrastructure and regulatory expertise. Rocketvax receives investment support for research and infrastructure development.
- HALIX B.V.coreStrategic CDMO partnership for VIRUFLEX™ platform. HALIX provides GMP-grade manufacturing, expertise in viral vector manufacturing, and scalable infrastructure for rapid vaccine production scale-up. Collaboration focuses on pandemic readiness and next-generation nasal COVID-19 vaccine development.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)/NIAIDcoreProject NextGen collaboration where NIAID will support Phase 1 clinical study with Rocketvax's RVX-sCPD9 live-attenuated nasal vaccine candidate, subject to regulatory approval. NIH provides non-dilutive financial support for clinical advancement.
- SIX Swiss ExchangeminorSelected participant in Sparks IPO Academy, a six-month structured program for IPO preparation providing access to capital markets specialists, networking with CFOs of listed companies, and engagement with potential investors.
- University of BerncoreScientific collaboration led by Professor Dr. Volker Thiel (Chief Scientist of Rocketvax and Professor of Virology at University of Bern) for development of live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates including OTS-228.
- Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI)coreGermany's Federal Research Institute for Animal Health conducted preclinical studies demonstrating OTS-228 vaccine efficacy, safety, and genomic stability in Syrian hamster models under direction of Professor Dr. Martin Beer, Director of Institute of Diagnostic Virology.
- Freie Universität BerlincoreJoint research collaboration comparing efficacy of live-attenuated vaccine sCPD9-ΔFCS with mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Research team led by Dr. Jakob Trimpert demonstrated superior performance of intranasal live-attenuated vaccine.
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)supportingSwiss National Research Program 'COVID-19' (NRP 78) providing financial support for live-attenuated coronavirus vaccine research and development collaboration.
- German Research Foundation (DFG)supportingGerman Research Foundation project 'Recoding the SARS-CoV-2 Genome - A Multidisciplinary Approach to Generate Live-Attenuated Coronavirus Vaccines' providing funding for vaccine development research.
- University of BaselcoreResearch collaboration with Professor Thomas Klimkait's team for development of single-cycle virus vaccine approach. University Hospital of Basel and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute also part of research partnership. Supported by InnoSuisse grant.
- Swiss Rockets AG (Parent Company)coreRocketvax AG is a subsidiary of Swiss Rockets AG, a Swiss biotech incubator and accelerator supporting growth of companies with focus on oncology and vaccine development. Rocketvax is part of the Swiss Rockets group of companies.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
RocketVax competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Tonix Pharmaceuticals: Clinical-stage biotech developing live-attenuated vaccines including TNX-1800 (horsepox-based COVID-19 vaccine) and TNX-801 (smallpox vaccine). Comparable live-attenuated platform approach to RocketVax's technology.
- Codagenix: Clinical-stage biotech developing live-attenuated vaccines using codon deoptimization and synthetic biology. Most direct peer to RocketVax given shared live-attenuated virus technology focus and intranasal delivery approach for respiratory viruses.
- Novavax: Approved COVID-19 vaccine developer using protein subunit technology. Direct competitor in the prophylactic human COVID-19 vaccine market that RocketVax targets with its next-generation approach.
- Meissa Vaccines: Developer of intranasal live-attenuated vaccines for respiratory viruses including RSV and COVID-19. Direct competitor using similar intranasal live-attenuated platform targeting the same mucosal immunity differentiation.
Emerging players
- Blue Lake Biotechnology: Developer of intranasal parainfluenza virus vector-based vaccines including COVID-19 candidates. Comparable intranasal vaccine delivery approach targeting mucosal immunity, though uses viral vector rather than live-attenuated.
Broad incumbents
- Pfizer: Global pharmaceutical leader with BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty. Dominant incumbent in the COVID-19 vaccine market that RocketVax targets, with massive manufacturing and commercial scale advantages.
- Moderna: mRNA vaccine leader with approved COVID-19 vaccine and broad pipeline. Directly competes in the next-generation COVID-19 vaccine market that RocketVax targets, though Moderna uses mRNA technology rather than live-attenuated.
- AstraZeneca: Global pharmaceutical company with COVID-19 vaccine (Vaxzevria) and broad infectious disease vaccine portfolio. Large incumbent operating in the same respiratory virus vaccine market with established global commercialization capabilities.
- BioNTech: mRNA vaccine pioneer with Pfizer-partnered COVID-19 vaccine and expanding pipeline. Competes in the broader next-generation COVID-19 vaccine market and is developing intranasal candidates that could challenge RocketVax's mucosal immunity advantage.
- Emergent BioSolutions: Public biotech specializing in vaccines and therapeutics with established manufacturing infrastructure. Strategic partner to RocketVax for U.S. commercialization, while also operating its own vaccine pipeline including COVID-19 candidates.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
RocketVax social profiles
Digital presenceRocketVax financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
RocketVax leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles20 records
RocketVax funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
RocketVax M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about RocketVax
What does RocketVax do?
RocketVax AG develops next-generation live-attenuated virus vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases, using proprietary reverse genetic engineering and genome recoding technology delivered via the VIRUFLEX™ platform. Its lead candidates RVX-sCPD9 and RVX-OTS (OTS-228) are needle-free intranasal spray vaccines designed to provide mucosal immunity, broader variant protection, and transmission blocking for current and emergent COVID-19 variants.
Is RocketVax a public or private company?
RocketVax is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was RocketVax founded?
RocketVax was founded in 2018. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is RocketVax based?
RocketVax is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does RocketVax make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Vaccine Licensing and Royalties are the primary driver. The others are strategic Partnership Payments and non-Dilutive Funding.
Who are RocketVax's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Tonix Pharmaceuticals, Codagenix, Novavax and Meissa Vaccines. Blue Lake Biotechnology is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, BioNTech and Emergent BioSolutions.
Does RocketVax have an API?
No public API is recorded for RocketVax.
What industry is RocketVax in?
RocketVax's product category is Biotechnology Vaccines. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAEAC, Infectious Disease & Pandemic Preparedness Vaccines (emerging pathogens), with a secondary code of HLAAAEAA, Prophylactic Human Vaccines (routine, pediatric, adult). Its NAICS code is 325414 and its SIC code is 2836.