Immune Biosolutions Receives C$13.44 Million to Develop and Biomanufacture its Promising Immunotherapy to Treat COVID-19 and its Variants
SHERBROOKE, Québec (March 16, 2021)—Immune Biosolutions, an innovative biotechnology company, receives $13.44M from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) to develop its promising immunotherapy whose antibodies have the potential to neutralize and eliminate COVID-19 and its variants.
This funding will allow the immunotherapy currently in pre-clinical studies to progress to Phase II clinical trials. In addition, Immune Biosolutions will build a biomanufacturing capacity to accelerate the preclinical and clinical development of its therapeutic antibodies.
Immunotherapy is complementary to vaccination. It will be an additional tool for healthcare professionals to treat and control COVID-19.
A Promising Treatment
For over a year, Immune Biosolutions has collaborated with several private and public Canadian organizations to accelerate the discovery, development and biomanufacturing of a novel immunotherapy targeting COVID-19 and its variants. The Sherbrooke-based biotech has identified more than 100 unique anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from convalescent human patients and immunized chickens.
Of these antibody candidates, Immune Biosolutions is currently in preclinical validation with those that have demonstrated the greatest therapeutic potential. Once administered to diagnosed patients, the antibodies discovered by Immune Biosolutions will neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants and accelerate its elimination by the patient’s immune system.
QUOTES:
“This financial support will considerably accelerate the preclinical and clinical development of our promising antibody candidates. So far, these antibodies have been shown to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infections in animal models and possess excellent neutralizing profiles against the current most problematic variants. Furthermore, inspired by the lessons of this pandemic, Immune Biosolutions will significantly improve and expand its platforms to develop any new immunotherapy at a pandemic pace.”
—Frédéric Leduc, CEO and co-founder of Immune Biosolutions.
“Canada’s biomanufacturing sector is rich in knowledge and expertise. By investing in domestic biomanufacturing facilities and equipment, such as KABS Laboratories, Novocol and Immune Biosolutions, we are investing in made-in-Canada solutions to fight COVID-19 while retaining and developing the expertise necessary to help us secure vaccine and therapy supply chains here at home. Our government is committed to rebuilding Canada’s biomanufacturing sector, focusing on both short-term strategic solutions and a long-term vision.”
—The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“Support from the SIF program will improve Immune Biosolutions’s antibody discovery platforms to accelerate the development of immunotherapy against COVID-19 and its variants. Supported by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools, the new advanced biomanufacturing capability will facilitate the company’s development of new immunotherapies and help Canada be better prepared to respond to future pandemics.” —Louise Proulx, PhD, Chair of Immune Biosolutions Board of Directors.
About Immune Biosolutions Inc.
At Immune Biosolutions, we strongly believe that biologics can transform and save lives. Leveraging our technology platforms, we hack the immune system of chickens to discover and engineer the next generation of immunotherapies. We create safe and functional humanized antibodies in several therapeutic areas, such as infectious diseases and oncology, where others have failed or never dared to explore.
Source: Immune Biosolutions