NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – ImmusanT today announced it has raised $12 million in Series B financing from Vatera Healthcare Partners to continue developing Nexvax2, an immunotherapy for celiac disease, as well as a companion diagnostic to pair with the treatment and a standalone blood-based diagnostic.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm will continue to develop its whole-blood functional T-cell test as both a companion diagnostic to identify patients most likely to respond to Nexvax2 and as a standalone test.
Nexvax2 is an adjuvant-free, disease-modifying immunotherapy for celiac disease that reprograms a patient's immune system to tolerate gluten in the diet. It is comprised solely of three gluten-derived peptides in saline that are responsible for the immune reaction that causes celiac disease. ImmusanT recently completed two Phase 1b studies to demonstrate safety, tolerability, and bioactivity of Nexvax2, and Phase II trials will begin in early 2015, the firm said in a statement.
The funding follows $20 million that ImmusanT received from Vatera in 2011 for the development of celiac diagnostic tools.