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Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.
New Century Pharmaceuticals is a Huntsville, AL-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
At Cradle Genomics, our mission is to provide knowledge that helps every pregnancy.
Synecor is a Chapel Hill, NC-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Gritstone bio brings together a group of distinguished scientific founders and advisors, a highly experienced and diverse leadership team and a seasoned and successful board of directors to tackle fundamental challenges at the intersection of cancer genomics, immunotherapy and other precision therapy areas, specifically in COVID-19 and HIV. With our unique approach to immuno-oncology and infectious diseases, we seek to generate a therapeutic immune response by leveraging insights into the immune system`s ability to recognize and destroy diseased cells by targeting select antigens. We started with a focus on tumor-specific neoantigens and more recently extended our programs to include viral antigens displayed on the surface of virus-infected cells. The biology underlying immune system recognition of targets on the surface of abnormal cells is common to both anti-tumor and anti-viral immunity. Consequently, we believe that activating and directing the immune system to these targets could offer an important opportunity to extend the benefits of immunotherapy for more patients.