Immunic AG Awarded Research Grant by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Immunic, Inc. announced that the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has awarded its subsidiary, Immunic AG, a grant in the amount of up to EUR 653,535 (approximately USD 730,000) in support of the InnoMuNiCH (Innovations through Munich-Nippon Cooperation in Healthcare) project. The InnoMuNiCH project is coordinated by BioM Biotech Cluster Development GmbH and supported by the Ministry of Education and Research, as part of the funding program, “Internationalization of Leading-Edge Clusters, Forward-Looking Projects and Other, Comparable Networks.” The goal of the project is to accelerate global biopharmaceutical innovations by pooling German-Japanese competencies in research and development.
With this funding, Immunic and its partners, a Japanese pharma company, the University of Kyoto and quattro research GmbH, will initiate a three-year research project entitled, “The regulation and metabolism of inflammatory T helper cells in autoimmune diseases and the identification of pharmacologically influenced inflammation-associated biomarkers.” The project intends to investigate the effect of small molecule compounds on cellular metabolism and to study their impact on the development of T helper cells and the corresponding regulation of relevant proteins, including cytokines. Specifically, Immunic and its partners will seek to analyze and better understand the molecular effect of therapeutic compounds that target Th1, Th17 and other cells associated with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The project will run from August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2022. The grant awarded to Immunic represents 50% of the project’s total estimated budget of up to EUR 1.3 million (approximately USD 1.5 million).
“One of the key challenges of developing small molecule therapies for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is a lack of selectivity, often leading to a host of serious side effects,” stated Hella Kohlhof, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Immunic. “Th1 and Th17 cells play a major role in conditions such as multiple sclerosis, chronic inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis, among others. By combining Immunic’s expertise in targeting intracellular metabolism with the vast experience and resources of each of our partners, we are hopeful that the results will lead to development of new therapeutic options for a range of underserved diseases, as well as to qualified biomarkers that will enable us to identify patients who may best respond to such therapies.”
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