Funding will support the development of Company’s lead product candidate for autoimmune disease as well as novel constructs to treat other indications with significant unmet need.
BURLINGAME, Calif., Jan. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hinge Bio, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company, today announced the close of a Series A’ financing led by Point72. Joining Point72 are Ridgeback Capital, InVivium Capital, and Lightswitch Capital, among others. The proceeds will support entry of the Company’s lead product candidate, HB2198, into a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients living with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (“Lupus”) as well as development of additional therapeutics from Hinge Bio’s proprietary GEM-DIMER™ platform to treat diseases with high unmet need.
“Hinge Bio is committed to developing life-changing medicines for patients with intractable diseases,” said Chief Executive Officer Barry Selick, Ph.D. “These funds will enable early clinical demonstration of the safety and efficacy of HB2198 in Lupus patients as well as the pre-clinical evaluation of a variety of other constructs of interest to both patients as well as pharmaceutical company partners.”
Hinge Bio’s lead candidate from its GEM-DIMER™ platform, HB2198, is expected to enter clinical development during 2025. The program seeks to treat B cell-mediated autoimmune disorders by targeting both CD19 and CD20 with enhanced natural killer cell engagement. Pre-clinical in vivo studies have demonstrated deeper and more rapid B cell depletion than has been reported for other antibody-based therapies. The therapeutic goal of HB2198 is to achieve a reset of the immune system through rapid and deep B cell depletion in both peripheral blood and lymphoid tissues, with the convenience, accessibility, cost and safety benefits of an off-the-shelf antibody-based therapeutic.
“Hinge’s GEM-DIMER technology has broad applicability across therapeutic areas and constructs, and we believe HB2198 only begins to show the promise of Hinge’s platform,” said Alex Silverstein, Portfolio Manager at Point72. “The talented team at Hinge is well positioned to develop exciting medicines that have the potential to both improve upon current standards of care and harness novel pathways. We believe HB2198 can be a best-in-disease therapeutic for multiple indications that can be broadly, safely, and easily used by healthcare practitioners from academic centers to community practices.”
Added Dr. Wayne Holman, Founder & CEO of Ridgeback Capital, “Hinge has developed a platform to create best in class medicines against known and novel targets. The lead program is a B-cell depleting medicine that we believe will be as efficacious as a CD19 CART in autoimmune disease with the safety and tolerability of a simple monoclonal antibody. This would allow for a profound benefit and immune reset across a wide range of autoimmune diseases with a simple short term IV or SubQ therapy. This may transform autoimmune disease and leapfrog competing platforms such as CART and T-cell engagers in the B cell depletion field.”
About Hinge Bio
Hinge Bio, Inc. is a privately held development-stage biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary GEM-DIMER™ platform to design and develop therapeutics leading to better treatment outcomes for patients living with autoimmune, inflammatory, and infectious disease, as well as cancer. The GEM-DIMER™ technology platform enables the creation of multivalent, multispecific antibody-based therapeutics that are designed to bind their targets cooperatively allowing for dramatically enhanced biological activity and unique functionality. GEM-DIMER™ technology was invented by Hinge Bio’s Chief Scientific Officer, Daniel Capon, Ph.D., the co-inventor of recombinant Factor VIII for hemophilia, and three foundational technologies that have transformed biological therapy: Fc fusion proteins (Genentech, Inc.), scFv-Zeta Chimeric Antigen Receptors for T cell therapy (Cell Genesys, Inc.), and genetically-modified mice producing repertoires of fully human antibodies capable of recognizing human disease targets (Abgenix, Inc.). Hinge Bio is advancing a pipeline of programs with an initial focus on autoimmune disease.
About Ridgeback Capital Investments
Founded in 2006 by Wayne Holman, MD, Ridgeback Capital is a private investment company that is focused on investing in life science companies at all stages from formation through public market. Ridgeback Capital has a long track record of supporting innovation. The focus of the portfolio is to fund paradigm changing people, ideas, technologies, and companies that will have a broad reaching impact toward the betterment of society. For more information, please see www.ridgebackcap.com.
Learn more at www.hingebio.com.
CONTACTS
Hinge Bio:
Carin Rollins
Chief Operating Officer
carin.rollins@hingebio.com or info@hingebio.com
650.488.7070
