ImmuVen, a Champaign, Illinois-based biotechnology company with novel technology to discover and develop new biotherapeutics to treat infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune disorders, has been awarded a $1.68m Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIH).
The company intends to use the funding to continue the development of its therapeutic pipeline (IMV0123) against superantigens produced by methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus. This award, which continues the work previously supported by a successfully completed Phase I SBIR grant, aims to provide support for bringing IMV0123 through a pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in addition to completing major milestones in the preclinical development of the therapeutic.
Based on proprietary technology developed in the laboratories of its scientific founders, ImmuVen’s platform allows rapid selection and optimization of soluble TCR receptors with high affinity to important targets in infectious diseases, such as bacterial toxins and viral antigens presented on host cells, as well as specific markers on cancer cells or in autoimmune pathways. The company is located in EntepriseWorks incubator in the University of Illinois Research Park (researchpark.illinois.edu).
FinSMEs
01/05/2012