Cell Therapy Startup Tr1X Emerges from Stealth with $75M Series A

Pictured: Cell therapy concept/iStock, Meletios Verras

Tr1X came out of stealth mode on Wednesday with $75 million in Series A funding as it looks to bring allogeneic engineered Treg and CAR-Treg cell therapies to treat major autoimmune diseases into the clinic this year.

The funding round was led by The Column Group and had participation from Alexandria Ventures and NEVA SGR. Tr1X will be led by CEO William Lis, who has been in biotech for over 25 years and was the interim CEO of Jasper Therapeutics from 2019 to 2022. Before that, he was CEO of Portola Therapeutics from 2008 to 2018.

The San Diego-based biotech contends that its products are the first engineered Type 1 regulatory T (Tr1) therapeutics to be derived from universal donors to recapitulate function of naturally occurring Tr1 cells, which have features that can benefit patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Tr1 cells are “crucial” for maintaining homeostasis and tolerance in healthy patients, which include clamping down on inflammation and suppressing “pathogenic effector T cell response.” Long-term tolerance has also been observed in preclinical models, according to the company.

Tr1X also claims it has proprietary tech that allows for converting CD4+T cells from healthy donors and then engineered to “target-specific” tissues or organs. The company’s first investigational cell therapy, TRX103, is slated to go into a Phase I trial this year to prevent Graft versus Host Disease in patients undergoing mismatched hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

The company is also planning programs in Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease as well as multiple B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases, with the expectation of being in Phase I clinical trials in multiple indications in 2024.

Tr1X’s science is based on the work of its scientific founder, Maria Grazia Roncarolo, who will serve as the president and head of R&D as well as a director at the company.

“The ability to develop a pipeline of medicines based on our work on regulatory T cells represents the culmination of decades of discovery and research into the underpinnings of immunological tolerance and autoimmunity,” Roncarolo said in a statement. “Tr1 cells have unique properties and represent the ideal therapeutic platform to develop ‘immune reset’ products. Our two platforms have the required attributes to address a broad set of indications, including dual targeting of pathogenic T and B cells.”

So far in 2024, a steady stream of investment has been coming in for smaller biotechs emerging from stealth. This week, European-based biotech Disco Therapeutics emerged with over $20 million. Earlier this month, psychedelic-focused biotech MAPS Public Benefit Corporation rebranded to Lykos Therapeutics and secured a $100 million Series A round.

Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.