Phialogics AG bags pre-seed financing

Basel-based Phialogics AG, which was spun-off from Fraunhofer Institute for Immune Pathology and Immune Tolerance in 2021, has cashed in a pre-seed financing from Hightech-Gründer Fund (HTGF) for preclinical validation of its approach to rebalance the immune system in autoimmune disorders. The company plans to use the €600,000 raised to preclinically validate its lead programme and optimise cell-type-specific immune checkpoint activators to prevent multi-organ failure in autoimmune diseases.

Phialogics’ concept is based on the targeted modification of immunoglobulin receptor domains (IgVs) to modulate the immune response in inflammatory diseases. The molecules identified by Phialogics to date reproduce endogenous protein-protein interactions to efficiently modulate the function of their target receptor.

According to the company, its modified antibody receptor domains could also be used to prevent multi-organ failure in sepsis, in which PD-L1 overexpression has been shown to induce regulatory T cells that mitigate the overshooting proinflammatory immune reaction in liver cells. Concerning autoimmunity, the idea is rebalance the ratio of proinflammatory and immunosuppressive cells (regulatory immune cells) which is disturbed in autoimmunity and sepsis through optimisation of agonists that boost immune suppression.