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news.RheumaGen has secured $15m in Series A financing round to advance the development of a class of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene-editing therapies for autoimmune ailments including rheumatoid arthritis.
RG0401 is tailored to edit the human leukocyte antigen gene’s DNA markers. Credit: digitale.de on Unsplash.
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SPRIM Global Investments and William Taylor Nominees jointly led the funding round, which will support the conduct of a Phase I trial of RheumaGen’s lead candidate, RG0401.
Anticipated to commence next year, the trial will assess RG0401 for treatment-resistant or refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
The company is currently engaged in investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies for this therapy.
RheumaGen CEO and co-founder Richard Freed said: “We founded RheumaGen to relieve the burden that individuals suffering from autoimmune diseases have carried for so long. We are not interested in incremental improvements.
“This financing will enable us to advance our clinical programmes and move closer to fulfilling RheumaGen’s vision to cure patients suffering from autoimmune diseases.”
RG0401 is tailored to edit the HLA gene’s DNA markers, thereby transforming a patient’s HLA molecules to match those of an individual who is naturally RA resistant.
This therapy is claimed to modify harmful HLA alleles into healthy ones, ‘preventing’ T cells from triggering chronic autoimmune responses.
By doing so, it aims to stop the progression of cell and tissue degradation and the disease process itself.
SPRIM Global Investments Life Sciences managing director Tassos Konstantinou said: “We are thrilled to have co-led this financing alongside this strong group of experienced investors.
“We are confident in RheumaGen’s future growth, powered by their promising CGT technology and decades of immunology, histocompatibility, and clinical expertise across the team, and we look forward to supporting the company as they advance their pipeline.”
