Integra Therapeutics, a global leader in cutting-edge gene writing tools to improve the efficacy, precision and safety of advanced therapies, announced it has closed a €10.7 million pre Series A round of investment. The funds come from new investors like the EIC Fund —the venture capital arm of the European Innovation Council (EIC) with the European Investment Bank (EIB) as the investor of record—, which invested €4 million, and CDTI Innvierte of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University, which contributed €2.7 million, as well as from existing investors AdBio Partners, Columbus Venture Partners, Invivo Partners and Takeda Ventures, which continue to support the company’s vision.
The funds will be used to incorporate new advances into the FiCAT gene writing platform, validate various next generation CAR-T therapies in the preclinical phase and expand the FiCAT cell engineering capabilities to facilitate technology transfer to the pharmaceutical industry. In May, the company announced new, highly promising preclinical data for its FiCAT platform at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT).
Moreover, Integra is developing its first gene therapy for a rare pediatric liver disease, funded by an EIC Accelerator grant.
“Thanks to the support of our investors, we will continue leading innovation in cell and gene therapies and are getting closer to transforming the treatment of complex diseases like cancer, autoimmune diseases and rare diseases,” explains Avencia Sánchez-Mejías, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Integra Therapeutics.
“We are happy to announce EIC Fund’s investment in Integra Therapeutics. We empower them to accelerate the development of groundbreaking therapies that have the potential to transform lives and advance the field of gene therapy on a global scale,” says Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board.