Seattle-based biotech startup Immusoftthis week closed a $20 million Series B venture capital round that will fuel development of its gene therapy technology.
Founded in 2009, Immusoft develops immune cell technology that uses blood cells from a patient to create therapeutic proteins targeted to treat diseases.
The process is called immune system programming, or ISP, and was invented by Nobel laureate David Baltimore in 2006. Immusoft has been expanding on the technology and developing treatments based on it that use special enzymes and proteins to treat HIV, muscle loss, and other diseases.
“Throughout 2018, the Immusoft team made extraordinary progress advancing our ISP platform. This is highlighted by our lead candidate, ISP-001, receiving both orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations from the FDA,” Immusoft CEO Sean Ainsworth said in a statement. “With the closing of our Series B financing, we believe we are now strongly positioned to advance this novel approach for treating MPS I patients through Phase I/II clinical development with the goal of generating initial safety and potential efficacy data during 2019.”
