IM Therapeutics seizes $10m series A

ImmunoMolecular (IM) Therapeutics, a US-based autoimmune therapy developer spun out of University of Colorado, on Wednesday obtained $10m in a series A round involving the university’s Healthcare Innovation Fund.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm Morningside Ventures and diabetes research finance organisation JDRF’s T1D Fund.
IM Therapeutics is working on personalised immunotherapies for people affected by autoimmune disease based on a small molecule called methyldopa that can be used to deactivate human leukocyte antigens (HLA) responsible for damaging healthy beta cells.
Its lead asset, IMT-002, would employ a leukocyte antigen called HLA-DQ8 thought to be present in about 60% of type 1 diabetes patients. The spinout is also looking to diversify into additional autoimmune indications such as coeliac disease.
Peter Gottlieb, professor of paediatrics and medicine in University of Colorado’s Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the Anschutz Medical Campus, co-founded ImmunoMolecular alongside Aaron Michels, an assistant professor specialised in the same fields.
They were assisted in building IM Therapeutics by Nandan Padukone, an entrepreneur-in-residence with the T1D Fund.
IM Therapeutics will put the fresh funding into advancing its discovery platform and the IMT-002 candidate. Sean Doherty, executive chairman at JDRF T1D Fund, and Jason Dinges, investment advisor at Morningside Ventures, have both joined the company’s board of directors.
Katie Ellias, managing director at the JDRF T1D Fund, said: “We are excited to be a lead investor in IM Therapeutics and are encouraged by the early results of their lead drug in T1D. We believe the company’s platform could be a game-changer not only for T1D but also for other autoimmune diseases.”