Neovaxsyn Inc.

Neovaxsyn Inc., a minority-owned, self-certified small disadvantaged business headquartered in Ames, Iowa, develops HIV vaccine platforms and recombinant viral vectors for gene therapy and vaccine applications as a prime recipient of federal research grants and SBIR contracts from the National Institutes of Health. The company operates exclusively as a prime awardee (100% of recent awards) under the Small Business Innovation Research program, competing in the set-aside category across federal health research funding.

Neovaxsyn's federal footprint concentrates narrowly on infectious-disease vaccine research. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) accounts for seven of eight awards (100% of combined potential value and all customer concentration), while the National Institute of Mental Health placed one award. Recent work includes a $2 million firm fixed-price definitive contract from NIAID (awarded July 1, 2024, completion June 30, 2028) for development of a nanovaccine to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1; a $300,000 SBIR Phase I definitive contract from NIAID (awarded August 1, 2024, completion October 31, 2025) supporting development of a next-generation immunoprevention platform against HIV-1; and an SBIR Phase I project grant from NIAID for $300,000 (awarded September 1, 2026, completion August 31, 2028) to design a novel recombinant adeno-associated virus production system optimized for gene therapy and vaccine applications. An earlier $300,000 SBIR Phase I contract from NIAID ran through September 2025. Neovaxsyn also received an SBIR Phase I project grant from the National Institute of Mental Health ($300,000, awarded September 1, 2022, completion August 31, 2026) for work on induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1.

Award activity shows sporadic distribution — one award in 2020, one in 2021, two in 2022, two in 2024, and one in 2026 — reflecting the episodic nature of SBIR funding cycles rather than sustained contract volume. Two awards with combined potential value of $2 million reach completion inside the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure. Service Contract Inventory data shows $167 thousand in invoiced revenue across 0.2 FTEs in FY2024 and $671 thousand across 1.1 FTEs in FY2025 on federal service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold; government-paid hourly rates run around $406/hr median, with senior labor pricing through roughly $504/hr. Neovaxsyn self-performs the majority of contracted work (79% of invoiced hours) with one named subcontractor accounting for roughly 21% of sub-hours share on reported prime contracts.