COUR Pharmaceuticals Secures $105M Series A Financing to Advance Antigen-Specific Immunotherapy for Myasthenia Gravis and Type 1 Diabetes

Text | Li Nana

COUR Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in Illinois, USA, developing best-in-class therapies designed to reprogram the immune system to achieve antigen-specific tolerance for immune-mediated diseases.

On January 30, the company announced the completion of its Series A financing round, securing approximately $105 million in funding. This round was co-led by Lumira Ventures and Alpha Wave Ventures, with participation from Roche Venture Fund, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Angelini Ventures, and JDRF T1D Fund. Following the completion of the financing, Dr. Benjamin Rovinski, Managing Director of Lumira Ventures, and Simon Greenwood, Senior Investment Director of Roche Venture Fund, will join the board of directors of COUR Pharmaceuticals.

This round of funding will enable COUR to advance multiple wholly-owned candidate products using its immune tolerance platform, including Phase 2a proof-of-concept clinical studies for myasthenia gravis and type 1 diabetes, as well as other pipeline opportunities. These candidates will further solidify COUR's leading position in the field of antigen-specific immune tolerance.

COUR Pharmaceuticals has developed its proprietary antigen-specific immune tolerance platform, designed to fundamentally treat immune diseases rather than merely alleviating symptoms through toxic immunosuppression as with traditional methods. This platform leverages the immune system’s inherent learning ability to induce tolerance to specific problematic antigens while preserving all immune functions. Upon infusion, nanoparticles bind to immune cells called monocytes, with the particle surface functionalized to enhance absorption and ensure optimal targeted delivery. These cells then migrate to the spleen and liver, where they undergo apoptosis. There, disease-specific antigens encapsulated within the particles are released. The resulting debris is engulfed by antigen-presenting cells, which present the disease-specific antigens along with negative co-stimulatory signals to the adaptive immune system. Adaptive immune T cells interact with the antigen-presenting cells and, in the absence of inflammatory signals, recognize the antigens as self-antigens. These T cells respond by undergoing deletion, exhaustion, or inducing a regulatory T cell response. Regulatory T cells then migrate to the site of disease, where they continually suppress the immune response in the presence of disease-specific antigens. By harnessing the immune system's built-in learning and regulatory pathways, the COUR antigen-specific immune tolerance platform can reprogram the immune system, offering clinicians a groundbreaking approach to treating autoimmune diseases.

Currently, data from multiple clinical and preclinical programs indicate that COUR’s candidate products can induce antigen-specific immune tolerance, showing potential for treating a variety of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. COUR is developing candidates for myasthenia gravis and type 1 diabetes, collaborating with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company to develop a treatment for celiac disease, and also partnering with Ironwood Pharmaceuticals to develop a product for primary biliary cholangitis.

Editor | Hai Ruojing