MEDTECH
Insempra, | July 26, 2022
Insempra, a biology-powered company enabling businesses to make superior products in partnership with nature, today announces a strategic investment in Solena Materials Ltd a synthetic biology company. Solena, a spin-out from Imperial College London, develops synthetic proteins for high-performance clothing fibers.
The investment will allow Insempra, formerly Origin.Bio, to accelerate its strategy of harnessing new technologies to advance biological production processes, creating naturally superior products to drive the regenerative revolution. Solena will be a major part of Insempra’s platform to deliver high-performance, intrinsically sustainable ingredients for a broad array of industries.
Solena is using computational design to develop new classes of synthetic proteins to produce high-performance clothing fibers, which can absorb large amounts of kinetic energy. Insempra will accelerate the development and production of these synthetic proteins on an industrial scale, offering better, biobased solutions to the petrochemically sourced, non-biodegradable materials or fibers extracted from nature or animals, such as silk, currently used in the textile and clothing industries. This technology also reduces other environmental impacts such as the rise of microplastics in water bodies coming from washing petrochemically-sourced textiles.
“We are hugely excited by this investment in Solena, which will help to accelerate our market-first approach to develop superior, intrinsically sustainable ingredients. We look forward to fast-tracking Solena’s development and production of their unique synthetic proteins to develop customized, high-performance fibers for a variety of applications.”
Jens Klein, founder and CEO of Insempra and CEO of Solena Materials
Dr James MacDonald, inventor, co-founder and CTO of Solena Materials, added: “The team and I are very excited to make this technology a huge success.”
Professor Paul Freemont of Imperial College London, added: “This investment from Insempra recognizes the potential of our technology to revolutionize high-performance fabrics, and their supply chains. Together, we can harness our synthetic biology capabilities to develop, produce and manufacture a new class of superior, more sustainable fiber technology.”
Insempra, a co-founder of Solena, will be the sole contributing shareholder in Solena, which is based at Imperial College’s Translation & Innovation Hub (I-HUB) in White City, London. Solena’s Board will be comprised of Dr James MacDonald of Solena, Professor Paul Freemont and Professor Milo Shaffer of Imperial College London, and Jens Klein and Andreas Heyl of Insempra.
About Insempra
Insempra is a biology-powered company enabling businesses to make superior products with nature. We combine bioscience and technology to grow matter for new and better products.
For too long, businesses have relied on chemical industrialization processes and petrochemicals, depleting our planet’s limited resources. That’s why we are committed to drive the regenerative revolution to manufacture at scale in collaboration with nature.
Led by a hand-picked team of biologists, technologists and entrepreneurs with rebel hearts, Insempra is here to create a new school of thought and collective action. The time to restore the balance between people and the planet is now. We don't wait for change. We do what needs to be done to grow a better future.
About Solena Materials
Solena is a protein materials design company. We use world-leading computational design, machine learning, and automation to accelerate the development of bespoke materials targeted at multiple sectors, from fashion apparel to medical textiles. Our new protein-based fibers will replace materials extracted from nature such as silk and petrochemically-derived materials, to create a new world of biodegradable, functional and sustainable smart materials for consumers, industry, and the planet.
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CELL AND GENE THERAPY
iTolerance | July 01, 2022
iTolerance, Inc., an early-stage privately held regenerative medicine company developing technology to enable organoid, tissue, and cell therapy, announced entering into a joint collaboration with LyGenesis, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company with an organ regeneration technology platform. The joint collaboration is aimed at evaluating the potential of iTOL-201, a product candidate being developed combining LyGenesis' LYG-LIV-100 liver cell therapy and iTolerance's SA FasL microgel immune tolerance platform to permit the growth of ectopic livers without the requirement for immune suppression.
The joint research effort of iTolerance and LyGenesis has produced in vitro data using iTOL-201 and is now moving toward small animal proof of concept work to assess the potential of the combined technology for producing ectopic livers capable of saving the animals from fatal liver disorders without the requirement for immune suppression.
With our lead therapy now in the clinic in a Phase 2a trial in patients with End Stage Liver Disease, we have turned our attention toward a second-generation therapy capable of growing ectopic organs without the need for immune suppression. iTolerance's platform holds enormous promise in this respect and we look forward to the results from our joint proof of concept work."
Dr. Michael Hufford, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LyGenesis.
While long-term immunosuppression continues to be an obstacle for the use of cell and regenerative therapies, the research being conducted between both LyGenesis and iTolerance could allow for a major advancement in organ regeneration, As we advance our own pipeline of therapies focused on supporting pancreatic islet engraftments, I believe this synergistic collaborative research with LyGenesis has the potential to successfully combine technologies to drive significant value for both biotech companies and importantly, the patients we work to serve."
Dr. Anthony Japour, Chief Executive Officer of iTolerance.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
AbCellera and Atlas Venture | August 04, 2022
AbCellera and Atlas Venture announced a multi-target partnership to discover therapeutic antibodies for up to three drug targets that can be developed and commercialized by a stealth-stage Atlas-backed company. The collaboration leverages Atlas’ proven track record in forming innovative biotechnology companies and AbCellera’s unique ability to quickly deliver lead drug candidates to bring transformational new medicines to patients faster.
"AbCellera’s clinically validated platform lets us start discovery in a virtualized model that aligns well with our capital efficient investment strategy. This partnership supports our approach to value creation by allowing us to focus on building companies that aim to deliver impactful medicines to patients.”
Steven Robinette, Ph.D., Venture Partner at Atlas Venture
“Atlas has proven expertise in finding and transforming innovative scientific research into exciting new biotechs,” said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., CEO and President of AbCellera. “By eliminating their need to build internal antibody discovery capabilities at inception, we provide newly launched biotech ventures with a competitive advantage that empowers them to move faster and increase their probability of success. We look forward to working alongside Atlas’ entrepreneurs to unlock their breakthrough science and create new therapies for patients in need.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Atlas’ portfolio company will have the right to develop and commercialize therapeutic antibodies resulting from the collaboration. AbCellera will receive research payments and will be eligible to receive clinical and commercial milestone payments and royalties on net sales of products.
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading biotech venture capital firm. With the goal of doing well by doing good, we have been building breakthrough biotech startups for over 25 years. We work side by side with exceptional scientists and entrepreneurs to translate high impact science into medicines for patients. Our seed-led venture creation strategy rigorously selects and focuses investment on the most compelling opportunities to build scalable businesses and realize value.
About AbCellera Biologics Inc.
AbCellera is a technology company that searches, decodes, and analyzes natural immune systems to find antibodies that its partners can develop into drugs to prevent and treat disease. AbCellera partners with drug developers of all sizes, from large pharmaceutical to small biotechnology companies, empowering them to move quickly, reduce cost, and tackle the toughest problems in drug development.
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