Regulatory T-cell specialist Dualyx NV has closed a €40 million (US$43.5 million) series A to progress the lead autoimmune disease program to the clinic and to take forward two other Treg-based therapies. The company brings together expertise in antibody design with understanding of the role Tregs play in supressing the immune response to maintain homeostasis and self-tolerance, preventing autoimmunity.
Dualyx NV has completed a €40 million (US$44 million) series A financing, allowing the company to advance its lead autoimmune program, DT-001, as well as its pipeline of regulatory T-cell (Treg) candidates.
The infiltration of regulatory T cells (Tregs) into the tumor microenvironment and a low ratio of effector T cells to Tregs is usually tied to tumor progression and poor prognosis. On the other hand, interleukin-2 receptor subunit α (IL-2-RA) is highly expressed on Tregs.
Abata Therapeutics Inc. has selected its first development candidate, ABA-101, an autologous regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy for the treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). ABA-101 targets MS patients with nonrelapsing progressive disease who have a DRB1*15:01 genetic haplotype and for whom imaging evidence of ongoing inflammatory tissue injury has been observed.
Gentibio Inc. has announced preclinical data relating to the company's platform technology, demonstrating technical progress to engineer regulatory T cells (Tregs) for the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has agreed to pay up to $1.9 billion plus royalties, plus an up-front payment of undisclosed value, for Gentibio Inc.’s expertise in engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) to treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The agreement follows soon after BMS’ $4.1 billion acquisition of cancer biotech Turning Point Therapeutics Inc., as well as an expansion of its oncology partnership with Bridgebio Pharma Inc. to the tune of $905 million.
A Japanese study has shown that targeting the chemokine receptor CCR4 using treatment with the monoclonal antibody mogamulizumab (Poteligeo, Kyowa, Amgen) depleted immune regulatory T cells and significantly improved survival in a canine model of advanced prostate cancer.
Gentibio Inc. has raised $157 million to develop its engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs), setting itself a target to cure type 1 diabetes and treat other diseases caused by the immune system. Boston-based Gentibio launched in August last year with $20 million seed funding from Orbimed, Novartis Venture Fund and RA Capital. Those investors stayed on into the next round, which was led by Matrix Capital Management with participation by Avidity Partners and JDRF T1D Fund.
There’s a lot of competition in the regulatory T cells (Tregs) space and that’s a sign that something good is happening. Sonoma Biotherapeutics Inc. CEO Jeff Bluestone likened it to a typical drive leading to an everyday observation.