Date: 2018-05-30
Type of information: Grant
Company: Iontas (UK)
Investors: Innovate UK (UK)
Amount: £556 000 ($737 000)
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- The grant will allow Iontas to expand its current interest in targeting antibodies to ion channels, in particular Nav1.7, to aid the development of therapies for chronic pain management. Iontas aims to generate therapeutic candidates that overcome issues with current opioid-based treatments, such as inconsistent efficacy and significant side-effects (e.g. tolerance, addiction and overdose).
- Iontas’ KnotBody format fuses knottins, small peptides found in venom toxins, within an antibody CDR loop, allowing the ion channel modulating functionality of knottins to be combined with the specificity and in vivo half-life of monoclonal antibodies. Using this technology, Iontas has developed a Nav1.7-targeted KnotBody to block pain transmission. The grant will be used to improve target specificity and potency of this KnotBody using well-established methods pioneered by the team at Iontas and its founding scientists.
Others:
- • On May 30, 2018, Iontas announced that it has been awarded a major grant to support ongoing research into its novel antibody platform, KnotBody™. The total value of the grant will be £794,626 of which IONTAS will receive 70% from the Biomedical Catalyst Primer initiative established by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.
Therapeutic area: CNS diseases
Is general: Yes
