Agalimmune, a biopharmaceutical company, has been created to develop innovative immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer, with a focus on solid tumours.
The new company has been founded by an investment group comprising Loxbridge Research LLP and Animatrix Capital LLP.
Agalimmune is based both in London (Agalimmune Ltd) and California (Agalimmune Inc.). The funding will be used to continue the translation of Agalimmune's leading immunotherapeutic technology, Alphaject, licensed from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), to the clinic.
Alphaject is based on over 20 years of biomedical research carried out by UMMS Professor of Surgery and Medicine Dr Uri Galili, who discovered the anti-gal immune response and its role in 'hyper-acute' organ rejection.
The Alphaject technology includes methods for treating solid tumours in such a way that the immune system actively rejects them, akin to a non-matched graft or transplant.
Tumours are directly injected with the Alphaject compound, to which humans naturally have a high antibody titre. Alphaject coats the tumour cells in alphagal, thereby presenting a foreign antigen to the immune system.
This is thought to bring about a 'hyper-acute rejection' of the tumour, and breaks the immune tolerance shielding the tumour from attack, allowing the immune system to both begin to destroy the tumour immediately and also to confer a long-lasting protection over time in the form of enhanced immune surveillance.
The effect is analogous to a personalised cancer vaccine, acting continuously to prevent both metastasis and recurrence.
Agalimmune CEO Mike Westby noted the development of immunomodulatory therapies is an exciting and rapidly emerging field, which hopefully will lead to improved anti-cancer treatments for patients.
"We welcome Loxbridge Research and Animatrix Capital as investors," Westby added.