IgGenix, Inc., a biotechnology company taking a revolutionary approach to directly address allergic disease, today announced that it has raised $25 million in an oversubscribed Series A1 financing. Khosla Ventures, which participated in IgGenix's Series A funding in 2020, co-led the round along with Matthias Westman, a leading biotech investor and founding partner of Prosperity Capital Management. New investors include Alexandria Venture Investments, ShangBay Capital and AllerFund, the first and only venture capital firm focused on social impact in the food allergy space.
With proceeds from the financing, IgGenix will further expand its discovery platform in food and nonfood allergies while accelerating its lead program into preclinical development.
"At IgGenix, our revolutionary approach has the potential to transform the treatment of allergic disease and empower people to live without constant fear of life-threatening allergic reactions," said Chief Executive Officer Jessica Grossman, M.D. "With this funding, we look forward to continuing an exciting period of discovery while building partnerships to fuel our next phase of development."
IgGenix was co-founded by Stephen Quake, D.Phil.; Kari Nadeau, M.D., Ph.D.; and Derek Croote, Ph.D. of Stanford University, based on the idea that the potent immunological adaptations underlying severe allergies can form the basis of groundbreaking new therapeutics. Using cutting-edge single-cell genomics to isolate rare IgE-producing B cells, IgGenix discovers and reengineers key antibodies involved in the allergic cascade to develop safer therapeutics with a faster onset of action and more sustained clinical responses.
An Urgent Need for Effective Options in Food Allergy
Food allergies impact approximately 32 million Americans and 200 million people globally, and their incidence is on the rise. Every three minutes, someone visits an emergency room for food-induced anaphylaxis. While the current standard of care remains strict allergen avoidance, this is difficult in practice, negatively impacts quality of life, causes social isolation and can lead to potentially life-threatening reactions.
"Allergies have serious consequences - food allergies alone cost the U.S. economy $24.8 billion annually," said co-founder Dr. Nadeau. "We have a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize the approach to allergy treatment and lead the way in scientific research with the end goal of helping people live allergy-free lives."
IgGenix's novel proprietary platform applies deep sequencing to rare immune cells of allergic individuals and has the potential to revolutionize medicine's approach to allergic disease. IgGenix's approach, which was first described in a ground-breaking publication in Science, has the power to unlock the ability to reengineer fully human antibodies into precision-targeted therapeutics.
"Our SeqSifter™ high-throughput discovery platform has uncovered thousands of monoclonal, allergen-specific, high-affinity antibodies from highly allergic individuals," said co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Croote. "We are now poised to advance several programs into pre-clinical studies as we work to deliver first-in-class therapies and address the unmet needs in allergic disease with our innovative approach."
About IgGenix
IgGenix is a privately held biotechnology company taking a revolutionary approach to directly address food and other severe allergies by reengineering key antibodies involved in the allergic cascade. Founded based on research by professors Stephen Quake, Kari Nadeau, and Derek Croote of Stanford University, IgGenix isolates allergen-specific IgE antibodies and transforms them into IgG antibodies that alleviate and possibly prevent the allergic cascade. This novel approach may prevent life-threatening allergic reactions, saving lives and reducing the constant fear that affects people living with severe allergies.
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