US-based Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., has announced that ARCALIS Co., its manufacturing joint venture in Japan to support the production of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, has been awarded $115 million in two separate grants from the Japanese government.

The grants will be used to fund the construction of a factory and the purchase of capital equipment to support current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) production of mRNA drug substance and mRNA drug product operations.

ARCALIS is a joint venture between Axcelead and Arcturus, wherein Arcturus holds a 49% equity position that is subject to dilution. The factory, located in Minamisoma City, Japan, is designed to provide cGMP integrated vaccine manufacturing, from mRNA drug substance to bulk nanoparticle-formulated drug product.

Arcturus has also announced that the LUNAR-FLU programme continues to progress with funding and operational support from CSL-Seqirus, including an additional $17.5 million milestone which will be used to fund flu programme development activities. The LUNAR-FLU programme utilises Arcturus’ clinically validated next-generation STARR mRNA platform technology.

According to Joseph Payne, President and CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics, “The LUNAR-FLU programme could represent a major advance in vaccination efforts against flu, potentially providing higher levels of efficacy and greater durability compared to current flu vaccine approaches."