Biotechnology startup Nuvig Therapeutics is the latest emerging immune drug developer to attract investors’ attention, announcing Thursday a $161 million Series B round to bring its lead candidate into mid-stage testing.
The company, which is based in Menlo Park, California, raised the funds from more than a dozen investors. It plans to use the cash to develop antibody drugs that can treat autoimmune conditions without broadly suppressing the body’s defenses, as existing immune disease therapies typically do. Nuvig’s approach could be applied to several chronic conditions, said Pamela Conley, the company’s chief scientific officer and founding CEO.
The company’s lead program is headed into Phase 2 testing in a rare condition called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIDP, as well as other unspecified autoimmune diseases. Called NVG-2089, the drug is engineered to bind to and activate Type II Fc receptors that help regulate immune responses. Doing so is meant to help “restore normal immune homeostasis,” Conley said, instead of “leaving people’s immune systems crippled and not able to respond to foreign antigens.”
In CIDP, the body mistakenly attacks the myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells, leading to progressive muscle weakness. The disease is currently treated with immunosuppressive medicines, intravenous immunoglobulin and, more recently, Vyvgart, an antibody drug from biotech Argenx. Vyvgart, as well as a few others in development, block a different kind of Fc protein known as FcRn.
But those approaches “get rid of good antibodies,” Conley said, leaving patients with weakened immune systems in the long run. “We’re quite distinct in our potential safety profile, and we have a unique mechanism of action,” she claimed.
Nuvig launched in 2022 with $47 million in funding. Its Series B was led by Sanofi Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities and Norwest Venture Partners. Bristol Myers Squibb, Novo Holdings and Leaps by Bayer also participated, among others.
The financing has added to a recent upturn in investment in immune drugmakers. According to BioPharma Dive data, startups focused on immune drug research have drawn at least roughly $3 billion in 2024, more than double last year’s total. Biotechs with drugs in clinical testing, like Nuvig, have more easily gained investor support over the last few years, compared to preclinical companies, the data also show.
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- Source: https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/nuvig-autoimmune-fc-receptor-series-b-cidp/734489/