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Swift Biosciences is a biotechnology company that is developing novel molecular biology technologies to better characterize and understand the genome. We are an energetic, highly innovative company focused on creating tools to advance the DNA sequencing sciences. Our products are designed to help customers analyze challenging samples that are often associated with translational work, including circulating, cell-free DNA and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples.
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.
Inimmue is a new biotechnology company founded by pharmaceutical industry veterans focused on developing next generation immunotherapeutics.
Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is seeking to unlock the full potential of biologic therapies by avoiding unwanted immune responses. Selecta`s tolerogenic Synthetic Vaccine Particles (SVP™) technology platform is designed to enable a range of novel biologics for rare and serious diseases that require new treatment options. The company`s current proprietary pipeline includes SVP-enabled enzyme, oncology and gene therapies. SEL-212, the company`s lead candidate in Phase 2, is being developed to treat severe gout patients and resolve their debilitating symptoms, including flares and gouty arthritis. Selecta`s clinical oncology candidate, LMB-100, is in a Phase 1 program targeting pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma. Its two proprietary gene therapy product candidates are being developed for rare inborn errors of metabolism and have the potential to enable repeat administration. The use of SVP is also being explored in the development of vaccines and treatments for allergies and autoimmune diseases. Selecta is based in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Makindus is a privately-held, specialty pharmaceutical development company focused on ophthalmology and rare diseases. The Company`s lead product candidate is MI-100, a novel ophthalmic formulation of a legacy compound being developed for Stargardt disease, a rare form of juvenile macular degeneration that occurs in approximately 1 in 10,000 individuals. Makindus has met with the FDA and EMA, and is in the final stages of planning a Phase 3 clinical trial program. The Company is seeking partners and additional sources of funding and collaboration for the development program of MI-100 for Stargardt disease.