Step Pharma Completes €14.5 Million Series A Financing with Additional New Investor
21 November 2017 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Proceeds to Support Advancement of
First-in-class Immunomodulators for Autoimmune Diseases towards
Clinical Studies
Step Pharma today announced the closing of a Series A financing
totalling €14.5 million. Pontifax joined existing investors led by
Kurma Partners, and including Bpifrance (Fonds Biothérapies
Innovantes et Maladies Rares), Inserm Transfert Initiative,
Idinvest, Sygnature Discovery and the Imagine Institute in an €8.6
million second closing of the round.
The additional proceeds will be used to advance the company’s
novel class of oral immunomodulators targeting cytidine
triphosphate synthase 1 (CTPS1) to clinical studies. CTPS1 is a
novel target discovered at the Imagine Institute (Paris, France) in
rare genetic disease patients exhibiting deficiency in this enzyme
involved in CTP nucleotide production.
“There is a long, established history of using nucleotide
synthesis inhibitors to treat autoimmune diseases, such as
rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or psoriasis, but their
clinical use is limited due to lack of tissue
selectivity. Targeting CTPS1 should allow selective modulation
of specific immune cell populations, such as T and B cells, without
affecting other tissues, which should translate to better efficacy
and an improved therapeutic index,” said Geoffroy de Ribains, CEO
and co-founder of Step Pharma. “Our funding to date has enabled us
to build a proprietary assay platform, discover first series of
CTPS1 compounds and show initial proof of concept in vivo. With the
continued support of our investors and new investor Pontifax, we
will be able to advance our CTPS1 program into clinical
testing.”
“Step Pharma is exploring a completely new paradigm for the
treatment of autoimmune diseases. The rare combination of a
clinically validated target, a novel mechanism of action, and a
significant unmet medical need led us to create the company with
the Imagine Institute and Sygnature Discovery, and we are excited
to see the program progress. The ability of Step Pharma to attract
Pontifax confirms the potential of this approach,” said Vanessa
Malier of Kurma Partners.
Targeting CTPS1
Cytidine nucleotide triphosphate (CTP) is a precursor required
for several key processes involved in cell division.
It originates from two sources: a salvage pathway and a de
novo synthesis pathway that depends on several enzymes,
including CTPS1.
Importantly, patients deficient in CTPS1 only exhibit certain
immunodeficiencies without other clinical problems, strongly
suggesting a predominant and key role of CTPS1 in selected immune
cell populations. CTPS1 therefore represents a therapeutic target
for a new class of highly selective immunomodulatory drugs.
About Step Pharma
Step Pharma is focused on the development of a novel class of
oral nucleotide synthesis inhibitors targeting CTPS1 for the
improved treatment of a range of autoimmune diseases. The company
has identified several series of CTPS1 inhibitors, with the most
advanced series currently undergoing lead optimization.
Step Pharma was founded in June 2014 by Kurma Partners, the
Imagine Institute, and Sygnature Discovery based on the scientific
discoveries of Dr Sylvain Latour’s laboratory and Prof. Alain
Fischer (UMR1163 Inserm unit). Step Pharma is based in Paris,
France. More information on the company can be found at
www.step-ph.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171121005078/en/
Step PharmaGeoffroy de RibainsTel: +33 (0) 1 83 75 62
88gr@step-ph.comorHalsin PartnersMike SinclairTel: +44 (0)
207 318 2955msinclair@halsin.com