New York, Nov. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intrommune Therapeutics, a New York-based biotechnology company developing a patient-friendly treatment platform for peanut and other food allergies, is pleased to announce the first close of its Series A preferred equity financing, with an investment led by Red Bear Angels.
This investment will support Intrommune’s Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to the FDA for INT301, an oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) product for the long-term treatment of peanut allergy using a patent-protected daily use toothpaste.
Intrommune completed a separate seed financing round in excess of $150,000 in June 2018. The seed financing was accomplished via crowdfunding, a financing strategy that is increasingly utilized by life science companies seeking early capital. The capital from that financing enabled our highly constructive pre-IND meeting with the FDA in July 2018.
“These financings are intended to move several internal projects forward relating to our first product, INT301,” said Michael Nelson, Intrommune’s CEO. Mr. Nelson added “These successful investment rounds demonstrate investor excitement around the OMIT platform and its potential to provide patient-centric solutions to the growing epidemic of food allergies. We look forward to submitting our IND and then moving into clinical studies in 2019 to evaluate the safety of INT301 for treating peanut allergies.”
Chief Scientific Officer Erick Berglund, PhD. stated, “It is important that Intrommune’s product candidates truly meet the needs of people with food allergies. These financings help the company continue to prioritize these efforts. It is an unfortunate fact that there are no FDA-approved treatments available for any food allergy. Every investment in Intrommune Therapeutics will help us reach our goal of bringing this life altering food allergy treatment closer to development while providing investors the opportunity to make substantial returns if efforts are successful.”
“We are excited to be the lead investor in Intrommune’s Series A preferred equity financing and to leverage our network to assist the company in realizing its full growth potential,” said Sam Sezak, chairman of Red Bear Angels.
An IND application is a request for authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to administer an investigational biological product to humans. The pre-IND meeting provided an opportunity for open dialogue between Intrommune and the FDA to review INT301, planned IND content, and the investigational plan for Intrommune’s licensing application.
INT301 is a novel, patient-centric treatment for peanut allergy that is based on the company’s proprietary oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) platform. Intrommune’s OMIT platform is based on the delivery of specific doses of peanut or other food proteins in a fully functional toothpaste. Through the daily ritual of toothbrushing, patients bathe the immune cells of the oral cavity with peanut proteins. When administered regularly, this exposure can gradually desensitize the patient to peanut, thus reducing the risk of allergic reactions upon accidental exposure to peanut. Currently there are no approved therapies for peanut allergies, a potentially life threatening disorder that affects 3 million americans, half of whom are children, and their families.
For more information on Intrommune Therapeutics, please follow the link to http://www.intrommune.com/investors/
About Oral Mucosal Immunotherapy
Oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) uses a specially formulated toothpaste to stabilize and deliver allergenic proteins to immunologically active areas of the oral cavity with the greatest potential for allergy desensitization. Success with allergy immunotherapy hinges on consistent exposure of a patient’s immune system to gradually “desensitize” the patient to the specific allergy trigger over time. OMIT promises advantages over other approaches to allergy immunotherapy due to its targeted delivery, simplified administration, and support of reliable, long-term adherence.
About Intrommune Therapeutics
Intrommune is developing the revolutionary oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) treatment platform for food allergies. OMIT is a long-term, patient-friendly, disease-modifying solution for the 220 million people, including 9 million adults and 6 million children in the U.S., who suffer from life-altering food allergies. Intrommune’s lead product, INT-301, is expected to be a safe, effective and convenient therapy for patients who suffer from peanut allergy. There is no FDA-approved treatment for peanut allergy or any other food allergy.
For more information, please visit www.intrommune.com.
About Red Bear Angels
Red Bear Angels (RBA) connects Cornell entrepreneurs and Cornell derived innovations with experienced, successful, and passionate investors eager to support them. RBA leverages an extensive network of Cornell alumni to source, perform diligence and drive significant growth and value creation for these early-stage, high-potential companies.
For more information, please visit www.rbangels.com.
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