Oxitope Pharma (Oxitope) and Arxx Therapeutics (Arxx), companies with a shared goal of leveraging the innate immune system to discover and develop disease modulating therapies, have merged to form Calluna Pharma Inc. (Calluna).
has raised €75m in a series A financing and is backed by Oxitope and Arxx’s existing lead investors, Forbion, Sarsia, p53 and Investinor.
The new company will combine expertise in the field of innate immunity, based on damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), with a pipeline of selective antibodies that target inflammatory and fibrotic indications, including several first-in-class clinical candidates.
Calluna is developing novel therapies that harness the transformative potential of the body's immune system.
The company’s unique approach involves precision targeting of upstream innate immune amplifiers, enabling disruption of a comprehensive range of disease-associated downstream signalling pathways while maintaining a favorable safety profile.
As a result, Calluna has developed a robust pipeline of selective antibodies, targeting immunological diseases.
These include novel therapeutic candidates that fulfil unmet clinical needs across a spectrum of diseases, driven by acute or chronic inflammation and non-resolving tissue fibrosis.
John Montana, Chief Executive Officer of Calluna Pharma, commented: “In joining forces, these two key players in the innate immunology space have created an exciting new clinical company that has four promising therapies in its pipeline with excellent preclinical proof-of-concept data."
"By innovating beyond traditional treatment strategies, Calluna offers clinical candidates with superior efficacy, improved patient tolerance, and minimal adverse side effects which have real potential to redefine patient outcomes.”
Sveinung Hole, MBA, Managing Partner at Sarsia (ex-Chair at Arxx Therapeutics) and Susanne Stuffers MD, PhD, Managing Partner at p53, commented: “Sarsia and p53 strive to bring cutting edge ideas and therapies from early phase to clinical development and beyond to benefit patients and transform people’s lives."
"Calluna Pharma epitomises this and we are enthusiastic to join forces with Forbion and to contribute to the success of this new entity.”
