IOMAI

IOMAI was a Biotech company founded in 1997 by Gregory Glenn M.D. of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Dean Lewis, a World Bank employee. The company was the first to develop the concept of transcutaneous immunization, delivery of vaccines to the skin using a patch or similar method. This provided a means to stimulate robust immune responses safely as the skin patch-based immunization targeted Langerhans cells in the skin. The patch technology underwent extensive evaluation in the context of a traveler's diarrhea vaccine which entered Phase 3 pivotal trials in 2009. IOMAI was acquired by Intercell in 2008 and the technology was the subject of a development license to GSK in 2009. Dr. Glenn pioneered needle free delivery to the skin and spawned general interest in skin-targeting vaccine technologies, including intradermal delivery and the use of the heat labile toxin as an adjuvant and the adjuvant patch.