Thymmune Raises $7 Million to Develop Thymus Cell Therapy Platform for Immune System Renewal

Rare Daily Staff

Thymmune Therapeutics has raised $7 million in seed financing to advance development of its machine learning-enabled thymic cell engineering platform to restore normal immune function in aging and disease.

Pillar VC led the financing with participation from NYBC Ventures and other investors.

“Based on decades of research on the thymus gland, our approach has the potential to transform immunology by developing novel therapies for patients with a range of immune system disorders.” said Stan Wang, founder and CEO, Thymmune.

Thymmune’s approach in iPSC-thymic cell manufacturing can generate off-the-shelf cells at scale. The company is developing a pipeline of therapies to treat immunodeficiencies, transplant related, and autoimmune diseases.

The financing will be used to advance Thymmune’s lead product THY-100 into preclinical studies in immune system disorders caused by thymic deficiencies (such as children born without a thymus), which result in a lack of functional T cells. The funding will also be used to develop its thymic cell engineering platform and expand into additional indications across areas of unmet clinical need in immunology.

The thymus is a critical organ in the immune system that regulates and develops T cells, which are essential for fighting infection and disease, along with mounting effective responses to vaccines. As part of the natural aging process, the functional thymus begins to shrink and its ability to produce naïve T cells decreases, leading to immune dysfunction and disease.

“Thymmune’s approach to mass-produce iPSC-derived thymic cells to restore immune function in patients is a breakthrough for the field of thymic regenerative medicine. This treatment is less invasive than surgery and can be replicated at high quality at scale,” said Thomas de Vlaam, principal, Pillar VC. “In the future, regenerating the thymus using Thymmune’s approach could improve immune function for a variety of diseases and even address the biology of aging.”

Photo: Stan Wang, founder and CEO, Thymmune