What You Should Know:
– Biotechnology company kyron.bio announced the successful closing of a $6.2M (€5.5M) seed funding round aimed at solving critical challenges in biologic drug development, specifically varying efficacy and the dangers of side effects.
– The round was led by HCVC, with participation from Verve Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, Saras Capital, and numerous reputable angel investors.
– The funds will be used to accelerate the development of kyron.bio’s proprietary glycan-engineering platform, expand its team, and fuel preclinical studies. This funding announcement also coincides with the launch of the company’s EIC Transition project, backed by the European Innovation Council.
The Challenge: Unwanted Immune Attacks on Advanced Antibody Therapeutics
One of the most significant hurdles in the development of biologic drugs, particularly complex antibody therapeutics, is the patient’s own immune system recognizing the treatment as foreign and launching an attack against it. This immune response can render the therapeutic ineffective and potentially cause harmful side effects. As drug designs become more sophisticated and thus more “foreign” to the human immune system, this issue poses an increasing burden to biopharmaceutical companies.
This unwanted immune attack is particularly problematic for patients with chronic diseases requiring long-term treatment and is a major reason why many novel therapies fail to pass the critical Phase I stage of clinical trials, where drug safety is assessed.
Kyron.bio’s Breakthrough: Precision Control Over Glycans
Kyron.bio is pioneering a platform to fully control N-glycosylation, the cellular mechanism responsible for adding sugar molecules (glycans) to the surface of therapeutics. In standard biomanufacturing, this process is often inconsistent, leading to a mixture of glycan structures that can trigger adverse immune responses or reduce the drug’s effectiveness.
Kyron.bio’s breakthrough enables, for the first time, the precise use of specific glycans to prevent this unwanted immune attack. This innovative platform is offered as a scalable, plug-and-play solution compatible with standard biopharma manufacturing techniques.
The core of this technology consists of two key elements:
- Novel engineered cell lines: Kyron.bio genetically manipulates the cells used as production factories (typically Chinese Hamster Ovary, or CHO, cells) to achieve complete control over the glycosylation process.
- Proprietary glycan-engineering toolbox: The company engineers the antibody therapeutic itself to prevent unwanted immune attack and enhance its performance, while also generating strong new intellectual property (IP).
Together, these innovations allow kyron.bio’s platform to achieve over 97% consistency in glycan structures – an unprecedented level compared to standard bioproduction methods.
“To date, glycans have been massively under-exploited, limiting their potential in drug design. By achieving comprehensive control over glycosylation in a fully scalable manner, we have unlocked the possibility to use precision glycosylation in drug design. This transforms glycans into a design tool for the first time, opening up new treatment avenues for patients. Securing this fundraising round brings us closer to our goal of delivering precision glycan-engineered therapeutics to patients,” said Dr. Emilia McLaughlin, CEO & Founder of kyron.bio.
