Funding brings the total received in IWT grants up to €4.1 million.
ArGEN-X, a company developing human mAbs therapeutics from its Simple Antibody™ platform, received a grant of €1.3 million (about $1.69 million) from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT). The funding marks the third award the company has received from the institute for a total of €4.1 million to date.
“Our Simple Antibody platform is unique in producing a phenomenal diversity of functional antibodies against complex targets, particularly cell surface receptors and highly conserved proteins,” comments Hans de Haard, Ph.D., CSO of arGEN-X. “This allows us to identify therapeutic antibodies with previously unseen properties addressing key disease areas.
“Today’s news combined with our recent fundraising provides us with the financial resources to progress toward our goal of broadening the clinical utility of fully human therapeutic antibodies,” adds Dr. Haard. arGEN-X raised €27.5 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round.
ArGEN-X has leveraged the Simple Antibody platform to generate its own pipeline of therapeutic candidates. The company has five programs under development for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, inflammation, and oncology, with two now in formal preclinical development.
ArGEN-X’ most advanced program, ARGX-110, addresses a clinically validated cell surface receptor implicated in autoimmunity and cancer. It has been shown in preclinical models to modulate target function with unrivalled potency, according to the company. ArGEN-X expects to file an IND application for ARGX-110 in early 2013.
