Immetas Therapeutics and GC Biopharma Announce Research Collaboration to Discover and Develop mRNA Therapeutics to Treat Autoimmune Diseases

EAST HANOVER, N.J. & YONGIN, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Immetas Therapeutics and GC Biopharma today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration to discover and develop novel mRNA therapeutics for the treatment of a broad range of autoimmune diseases. The collaboration combines Immetas’ proprietary platform for modulating innate immune pathways with GC Biopharma’s messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutic and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platforms.

“Immetas is pursuing an innovative approach to treating autoimmune diseases based on recent scientific advances in inflammation research and emerging technologies to target critical components in chronic inflammation pathways,” said Jae Uk Jeong, PhD, Executive Vice President and head of R&D at GC Biopharma. “With our expertise in mRNA and nanoparticle delivery, this agreement allows us to jointly explore multiple projects with potential to make substantial improvements in the treatments offered to patients with autoimmune disorders.”

J. Gene Wang, MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Immetas Therapeutics, commented, “As a leading global pharmaceutical company focused on hematologic and rare diseases, GC Biopharma has built a powerful mRNA/LNP platform that is well suited for accessing innate immune pathways to treat chronic inflammation-mediated disorders. Immetas has generated a comprehensive toolbox to modulate inflammasome activity by targeting multiple pathway mediators with various modalities. Our combined efforts offer the potential to generate a new class of therapeutics for chronic inflammation-mediated disorders with a high level of specificity and precision.”

Under the collaboration agreement, Immetas will be responsible for identifying therapeutic targets, generating and characterizing payload molecules, defining disease indications and creating translational and clinical development strategies. GC Biopharma will be responsible for the design and manufacture mRNA constructs for payload expression, selection of LNP and delivery formulations, and characterization of the combination product candidates. Both companies will jointly conduct subsequent development activities. Additional terms were not disclosed.

Immetas’ approach is based on selective modulation of inflammasomes, key sensors and mediators of the innate immune pathway. Inflammasomes have been well characterized in chronic disorders involving multiple body systems, however, current inflammasome inhibitors to date have shown poor selectivity and presented safety challenges. Immetas has established a comprehensive platform that has generated novel therapeutic molecules targeting various components in the pathway with a high level of selectivity compared with traditional inhibitors to this structurally conserved family. The selection of modality, expression and delivery to optimize treatment outcome are determined by spatial and temporal requirement to effectively disrupt distinct disease biology in each condition. GC Biopharma’s mRNA/LNP approach is one of two delivery platforms Immetas is leveraging.

GC Biopharma has selected mRNA as the new development platform and has been conducting related research since 2017.

About GC Biopharma
GC Biopharma (formerly known as Green Cross Corporation) is a biopharmaceutical company that delivers life-saving and life-sustaining protein therapeutics and vaccines. Headquartered in Yongin, South Korea, GC Biopharma is one of the leading plasma protein and vaccine product manufacturers globally and has been dedicated to quality healthcare solutions for more than half a century. Learn more at www.globalgreencross.com.

About Immetas Therapeutics
Immetas discovers and develops novel therapeutics that modulate the innate immune system to treat chronic inflammation-mediated diseases. The company’s approach, anchored in clinical or genetic evidence to mitigate development risk, pursues exquisite integration of target biology, disease indication and technology platform in drug development. Immetas was founded by J. Gene Wang, MD, PhD, a veteran in discovery and translational drug development in immunology/ inflammation, and David Sinclair, PhD, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Learn more at www.immetas.com.

Immetas Therapeutics
J. Gene Wang, MD, PhD
Gene@immetas.com

GC Biopharma
Sohee Kim
shkim20@gccorp.com

Yelin Jun
yelin@gccorp.com