ImmPrev Bio has received an exclusive license to commercialize a novel diagnostic tool and an early-stage treatment for Crohn’s disease
ImmPrev Bio secures exclusive license to commercialise Crohn’s Disease diagnostic tool. (Credit: Louis Reed on Unsplash)
ImmPrev Bio, Inc. has received an exclusive license from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for the underlying patent to commercialize a novel diagnostic tool and early-stage treatment for Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease. The Company’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Charles Elson, and his laboratory at UAB were responsible for the research efforts that led to the groundbreaking discoveries.
ImmPrev Bio has identified that more than half of Crohn’s disease sufferers have immune responses to a particular subset of gut bacteria. Moreover, patients with a high immune response to this antigen are likely to experience more Crohn’s disease complications. Based on this science, the Company is developing a concomitant metabolic checkpoint inhibition therapy for Crohn’s disease. With strong preclinical proof-of-concept data supporting this approach, ImmPrev Bio will first target patients in surgically or medically induced remission from Crohn’s disease as well as patients with new-onset Crohn’s who demonstrate a high anti-flagellin response. ImmPrev Bio believes this approach can lead to a platform for treating other immune-mediated diseases in addition to Crohn’s.
“We believe that our novel early-stage treatment model has the potential to enable better outcomes for Crohn’s patients, who can now be identified earlier and tracked and treated more effectively,” said Dr. Elson, Chief Scientific Officer of ImmPrev Bio. “We look forward to advancing this promising therapy for the patients who need it.”
First Avenue Ventures Life Science Fund I, a fund with a strategic focus on Birmingham-based early-stage investment opportunities in the life sciences, recently led an investment round into ImmPrev Bio. Additionally, the Fund plans to support business development and commercialization efforts. “We are thrilled to be working with Dr. Elson on this innovative diagnostic and therapy for Crohn’s disease,” said Mike Goodrich, Principal of the First Avenue Ventures Life Science Fund I. “We are also proud to have invested in ImmPrev Bio, a company building on Elson’s outstanding research to develop a treatment with the potential to offer new hope for Crohn’s disease patients.”
ImmPrev Bio has engaged Cascadia Drug Development Group to help support the commercialization efforts. The group was founded by seasoned industry experts who are passionate about immunology and drug development. The team is working with other strategic partners to conduct additional pre-clinical experiments to confirm the lead compound and advance towards IND-enabling studies.
Source: Company Press Release