JDRF Canada is pleased to share that our US affiliate Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF, headquartered in the US) has awarded an Industry Drug and Development Grant to Integrated Nanotherapeutics (“INT”, Vancouver, BC). Founded by academic scientists, including Dr. Bruce Verchere – lead of the JDRF Centre of Excellence at UBC – INT is a biotechnology company that is focused on treatments for autoimmune diseases.
INT’s first asset focuses on type 1 diabetes and aims to “train” the immune system not to attack its own cells via a “tolerizing” therapeutic. This is done with a combination “vaccine-like” product that uses their proprietary multi-cargo lipid nanoparticles platform to co-deliver mRNA expressing antigens (to find the autoimmune antibodies) and small molecule immunomodulators (to reprogram self-attacking immune cells).
T1D is an autoimmune disease where immune cells mistakenly attack the cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin. Part of JDRF Canada and its global affiliates’ research strategy, (including Breakthrough T1D in the United States) is identifying when this autoimmune process takes place and ideally stopping it before it can start.
INT’s development of an immune tolerizing therapeutic designed to train the immune system not to attack its own cells is now supported by an award from Breakthrough T1D under its Industry Discovery and Development Partnership (IDDP) program.
The research project will explore the use of INT’s proprietary technology platform, which employs multi-cargo lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver multiple antigens using mRNA, along with immune-modifying small molecules, to re-train the immune system.
In T1D, immune cells incorrectly recognize self-antigens made by insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas as a threat, resulting in the attack and loss of these cells, eventually requiring anyone with the disease to need an external source of insulin, administered daily either by multiple daily injection, pen or pump. By co-delivering beta cell self-antigens and immune-modifying molecules that induce immune protection rather than attack, it may be possible to preserve the remaining beta cells in someone with T1D and stop the progression of disease. This is y known as “tolerization”.
INT’s approach aims to provide a tolerizing therapy that doesn’t require frequent treatment administration, and without the need for chronic immune suppression, which puts people receiving the treatment at risk for developing infections and other illnesses.
INT’s collaboration with Breakthrough T1D, the American affiliate of JDRF Canada, further bolsters the company’s focus on T1D for this groundbreaking technology.
This is an example of research moving from academia to industry, with its roots at the JDRF Centre of Excellence at the University of British Columbia.
“JDRF fellowships transformed my scientific career, empowering me to pursue my research ideas, connect with the T1D community and ultimately propelled me onto a career path of innovation with the goal of improving the lives of people living with T1D,” says Heather Denroche, PhD, Director of Preclinical Development, Integrated Nanotherapeutics, Inc. and past holder of a JDRF Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship.
JDRF Canada is excited to see this research being conducted out of Canada and will provide more updates as they become available.
