MiroBio, which is developing checkpoint agonists to treat autoimmune disease, has announced the completion of a $97 million deal.
The financing is being led by Medicxi with investments from OrbiMed and Monograph Capital and existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises, Samsara Biocapital, SR One and Advent Life Sciences.
Funds will primarily be used to advance MiroBio’s two lead antibody candidates into clinical trials and obtain safety and efficacy data in patients with autoimmune diseases.
The candidates are MB272 and MB151 and are differentiated, precision-engineered checkpoint receptor agonists for BTLA (B- and T-Lymphocyte Attenuator) and PD-1 (Programmed cell Death protein 1) respectively, offering transformative therapeutic potential for patients.
Pre-clinical pipeline
MiroBio said that the funds will also be used to advance its pre-clinical pipeline and further develop its proprietary I-ReSToRE discovery platform.
Eliot Charles, chairman of MiroBio, said: “We are pleased to have such strong support from our new and existing investors. The addition of Medicxi, Orbimed and Monograph to our syndicate further strengthens our transatlantic investor base and board.
“As our lead asset, MB272, enters the clinic, our investor base provides us with the resources to demonstrate the unique potential of our checkpoint agonists in this new and exciting class of therapies for autoimmune patients. Beyond MB272, Miro is leveraging its I-ReSToRE platform to advance our pipeline programs towards the clinic and help realize our vision of restoring immune homeostasis in patients with autoimmune diseases.”
MiroBio said it created the I-ReSToRE platform (REceptor Selection and Targeting to Reinstate immune Equilibrium) to develop best- and first-in-class medicines to treat autoimmune diseases.
The platform combines the proprietary Checkpoint Atlas of receptor expression and function, antibody discovery processes and bioinformatics, enabling a precision medicine approach to autoimmune disease.
Immune homeostasis
I-ReSToRE supports identification and therapeutic application of checkpoint receptor agonists to restore immune homeostasis for patients.
Nick Williams, Partner at Medicxi said: “We are excited to be working with MiroBio to bring a new class of agents to patients with autoimmune disease. Checkpoint agonists have the potential to be more efficacious and safer than existing treatments and have the promise of restoring immune homeostasis.”
He added that Miro’s differentiated approach is based on over 15 years of checkpoint agonism research at the University of Oxford and its medicines have best-in-class potential.
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