Tolerance Bio launches with $17.2 million seed funding

Philadelphia, USA-based biopharma company Tolerance Bio has announced the closing of its oversubscribed $17.2 million seed financing round, led by Columbus Venture Partners, with participation from Criteria Bio Ventures, Sessa Capital, BioAdvance, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and individual biotechnology investors.

Tolerance Bio is developing an allogeneic, or “off the shelf,” thymus induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based cell therapy platform as well as pharmacological thymus therapies to address immune-mediated diseases caused by abnormalities in immune tolerance, including cancer, autoimmunity, transplant rejection, infections, immune deficiencies, and allergies.

“Defeating immune diseases has been the lifelong quest of this exceptional team we have assembled, with patients and their families always front and center for us,” said Dr Francisco Leon, co-founder and chief executive of Tolerance Bio. “We intend to rapidly advance and validate our pioneering concepts in a rare disease and then assess proof-of-concept in multiple major indications, advancing these novel therapeutics to target immune disease at its core,” he added.