OSE Immunotherapeutics has successfully completed the necessary milestones to bring a treatment for autoimmune disease to the clinic, triggering a milestone payment from its partner Bpifrance.
OSE Immunotherapeutics, based in Nantes, France, has received €2.6M from the French public investment agency Bpifrance after completing another milestone in the development of a therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. The candidate, OSE-127, also known as Effi-7, has successfully completed preclinical studies and the company has completed its manufacturing process, which will enable its progress into clinical trials.
OSE-127 is an antibody aginst the alpha chain of the interleukin-7 receptor, also known as the CD127 receptor. Blocking it aims at preventing the migration of pathogenic T lymphocytes responsible for autoimmune diseases.
The drug is being developed by a French consortium including Bpifrance, the Inserm and Nantes University Hospital. Out of a total €20M funding, €9.1M are provided by Bpifrance to take the immunotherapy to Phase II. After that, the French pharma Servier will have the option to in-license the candidate and take over late-stage development, as outlined in a €272M deal signed last December.
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