Ugichem receives €2.25m funding for antisense drug platform
Funding will enable further development of Ugimer drugs in inflammation and immunology
Ugichem, an Austrian developer of a novel antisense drug platform, has raised €2.25m to advance the development of its preclinical Ugimer drug for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID).
The Innsbruck-based firm was awarded a grant of €850,000 by Austria’s Research Promotion Agency FFG and received equity financing of €1.4m from existing investors.
Based on its proprietary Ugimer platform, Ugichem aims to develop a pipeline of antisense drugs addressing unmet medical needs in indications involving inflammatory processes with a current focus on rheumatoid arthritis.
Ugichem said the Ugimer platform has a new in vivo efficacy and safety profile and enables the functional modification of targets in tissues and cells of the immune system not amenable to standard antisense approaches and RNAi. Ugimers penetrate immune cells, such as T cells, without the need for additional delivery tools and do not stimulate the immune system, resulting in reduced side effects and an improved safety profile, the firm said. Recent preclinical data using Ugimers demonstrated a significant modulation of target mRNAs and, a significant reduction of inflammatory cytokines after endotoxemia in vivo in various key tissues for inflammatory disease including the spleen and thymus.
Dr Holger Bock, CEO of Ugichem, said: ‘During the past two years we have generated significant evidence to support our unique antisense platform. Ugimers enable the utilisation of the powerful antisense mechanism to modulate previously undruggable targets in inflammation. The additional funding will be used to build further on the therapeutic value of Ugimers and will allow us to identify lead candidates in acute and chronic inflammation.’