New cancer immunotherapeutics firm Agalimmune set up

Agalimmune, a biopharmaceutical company, has been created to develop innovative immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer, with a focus on solid tumors, backed by an investment group comprising Loxbridge Research and Animatrix Capital.

Agalimmune is based both in London, UK (Agalimmune Ltd) and California, USA (Agalimmune Inc). The funding will be used to continue the translation of Agalimmune’s leading immunotherapeutic technology, Alphaject, licensed from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), to the clinic.

Alphaject is based on over 20 years of biomedical research carried out by UMMS Professor of Surgery and Medicine Uri Galili, who discovered the anti-gal immune response and its role in “hyper-acute” organ rejection. The Alphaject technology includes methods for treating solid tumors in such a way that the immune system actively rejects them, akin to a non-matched graft or transplant.