Beyond Celiac Investments Funds RheumaGen's HLA Gene-Editing Platform for Celiac Disease Treatment
Key Insights
Beyond Celiac Investments (search) has made a Series A-1 preferred stock investment in RheumaGen (search) to advance their celiac disease (search) program through early development and demonstrate preclinical proof of concept.
RheumaGen (search)'s innovative HLA (search) gene-editing platform targets the human leukocyte antigen (search) to develop one-time, curative cell and gene therapies for autoimmune diseases (search) without broad immunosuppression.
The investment was identified through BCI's inaugural Catalyst Program, which screens for early-stage candidates with transformational efficacy potential in celiac disease (search).
Beyond Celiac Investments (search) (BCI), the venture philanthropy program of Beyond Celiac (search), has made a Series A-1 preferred stock investment in RheumaGen (search), Inc., a cell and gene therapy company developing innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases (search). The investment will advance RheumaGen's celiac disease (search) program through early development to demonstrate preclinical proof of concept for what could become a transformational gene therapy.
Novel HLA Gene-Editing Approach
RheumaGen (search) focuses on editing the human leukocyte antigen (search) (HLA (search)), also known as the "immune gene," to develop one-time, curative cell and gene therapies for common autoimmune diseases (search). The company's platform has the potential to improve the lives of millions of patients by blocking autoimmune diseases at their source without requiring broad immunosuppression.
"Our HLA (search) gene-editing platform has the potential to improve the lives of millions of patients by blocking autoimmune diseases (search) at their source without broad immunosuppression," said Richard Freed, CEO & Co-Founder of RheumaGen (search). "We are excited about generating proof of concept for patients with celiac disease (search), who have remained without a curative treatment for far too long."
Strategic Investment Through Catalyst Program
The RheumaGen (search) opportunity was identified through BCI's inaugural Catalyst Program, which screens for investments in early-stage candidates with the potential for transformational efficacy in celiac disease (search). The program represents a systematic approach to identifying and supporting promising therapeutic developments in the celiac disease space.
"We are incredibly excited about the work RheumaGen (search) is doing in rheumatoid arthritis (search) and the potential to translate that progress and its innovative HLA (search) gene-editing platform to celiac disease (search)," said Jordan Dubow, M.D., leader of the BCI Investment Committee and Chief Medical Officer at Beyond Celiac (search). "BCI has a deep due diligence process, and RheumaGen emerged as an outstanding example of the type of company we are looking to support."
Expanding Investment Portfolio
BCI has surpassed its first-year fundraising goal and is moving forward with its first investments in companies developing potential treatments for celiac disease (search). Through its Catalyst Program, BCI will support efforts that show strong potential to advance into clinical trials and ultimately help deliver the first treatments and a cure for celiac disease. Potential candidates from other companies have also emerged from this process, which may result in future investments.
Company Background and Partnerships
RheumaGen (search) is a private biotechnology company headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, that engineers a new class of therapeutics to cure common autoimmune diseases (search). The company partners with the ClinImmune Center for Clinical Immunology (search) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (search) for clinical development and manufacturing, providing access to specialized expertise and infrastructure for advancing their therapeutic programs.