April 7, 2015
Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- True North Therapeutics snapped up $35 million in financing as it takes its lead drug candidate TNT009 into testing against a number of diseases that impact the complement system, part of the immune system. True North was spun out of iPierian.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance multiple product candidates from True North’s research and development engine that target the complement system, part of the body’s immune system that assists antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear pathogens from the body. In rare cases though, the complement proteins can attack the wrong cells, creating terrible problems for the body, something TNT009 should address if True North’s research pans out.
True North plans to initiate a Phase Ia study for TNT009 this spring and begin a Phase IIb study later in the year. The company will investigate the drug’s effectiveness with a variety of disorders, including antibody mediated rejection in kidney transplant and rare hematologic diseases, such as cold agglutinin disease, a form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
TNT009 is a monoclonal antibody that selectively inhibits the classical complement pathway, thereby preventing downstream disease processes involving phagocytosis, inflammation, and cell lysis. TNT009 inhibits C1s, a protease within the C1-complex in the complement system. The C1-complex is activated by antibodies and then triggers an enzymatic cascade and aberrant activation of this pathway in the complement system can result in a range of cellular pathologies in numerous autoimmune and alloimmune conditions. The potential utility of TNT009 in patients with a range of antibody-driven diseases is based on the central role of complement component C1s and dysregulation of the classical complement pathway in disease pathologies, the company said.
“True North is the first company to harness the power of selective targeting of the Classical Complement pathway to address rare diseases that have no approved therapies and few, if any, treatment options,” Nancy Stagliano, chief executive officer of True North Therapeutics, said in a press release announcing the funding. “We are excited to continue to rapidly move forward with our clinical plans for TNT009 and additional drug candidates in our pipeline to address rare diseases in hematology, skin conditions and kidney transplant.”
Before co-founding Bay Area-based True North, Stagliano was CEO of iPierian, Inc. which applied human iPSCs to model neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company acquired iPierian in 2014 in a $725 million deal. In addition Stagliano served as CEO and co-founder of CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. and a lead inventor on the patents for CytomX’s Probody platform.
True North’s Series B funding was backed by OrbiMed Advisors, an investment firm specializing in the life sciences industry, as well as SR One, GlaxoSmithKline ’s funding arm.
In June True North picked up $22 million in Series A financing.
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