Forbion leads €40m financing in Inflazome Ltd

Inflazome said it will use the proceeds to develop its small molecule NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor to clinical proof-of-concept in several chronic inflammatory diseases. Overactivity of the innate immune system’s danger sensor NRLP3 inflammosome is associated with a number of autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, gout, osteoarthritis, liver, kidney and cardiovascular diseases.

The company said it plans to start multiple clinical trials in 2019 with its NLRP3 blocking lead MCC950 candidate and backup compounds. The science behind the 2016 spin-out from University of Queensland and Trinity College Dublin is built on the work of co-founders Matt Cooper and Luke O’Neill. The work on MCC950 triggered a Series A financing of US$17m in 2016 lead by Novartis Venture Fund and Fountain Healthcare Partners.

Cooper and O’Neill, who now serve as CEO and CSO of Inflazome, were among the authors of a paper published in Nature Medicine that described MCC950. Next generation compounds in the company’s pipeline include proprietary small molecule modulators of complement factor C5a, which activate the NLRP3 inflammosome.