Immuneel Therapeutics, a clinical-stage startup in cell and gene therapies and personalised immunotherapy for cancer patients in India, has secured $15 million in Series A funding.
The investors in the round are Eight Roads Ventures, True North Fund, F-Prime Capital, and existing investors.
Bangalore-based Immuneel Therapeutics will use the funds to advance its development pipeline and scale.
Founded in 2019 by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee and Dr Kush Parmar, Immuneel is a biotech startup focused on creating access to Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell therapy (CAR-T) and other cellular immunotherapies for the management and treatment of cancers in India.
The firm aims to bring cell and gene therapy programmes, especially with clinical data, to India at an affordable cost. CAR-T therapies, previously not available in India, have shown promising results for patients who have exhausted all other means of treatment in a range of blood cancers. These therapies are available internationally at $350,000+ per dose, making the IMAGINE trial the first step towards bringing affordable treatments with global quality and clinical data to patients in India.
The company has also announced the beginning of patient dosing in a CAR-T trial named IMAGINE. Immuneel claims this phase II trial is the first industry-sponsored CAR-T trial in India.
The IMAGINE trial is funded by Immuneel and will include up to 24 pediatric and adult cancer patients.
The IMAGINE trial is funded by Immuneel and will include up to 24 pediatric and adult cancer patients.
Mazumdar Shaw, co-founder and Director of Immuneel Therapeutics, said, “This milestone is significant in building an eco-system to accelerate and make cell therapies accessible to patients in India, in line with global standards at affordable and disruptive costs. Personalised cell therapies are in their nascency the world over and we have an opportunity to differentiate through partnerships and cutting-edge innovation.”