Resolution Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical spinout company developing macrophage cell therapy to treat advanced liver disease, has completed a £10 million financing extension from Syncona and announced a new collaboration with biotech firm panCELLa.
The £10 million investment extends Series A financing of £26.6 million from Syncona, a specialist healthcare investment company, that was announced at the launch of Resolution in December 2020.
Resolution is developing macrophage cell therapies to repair inflammatory organ damage, with a focus on treatment of end-stage chronic liver disease.
Macrophage research
The company is built on more than a decade of work by a research team led by Professor Stuart Forbes, Director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, characterising the role of macrophages in organ repair, including the liver, both in the pre-clinical and clinical settings.
The company was co-founded by Professor Forbes and Professor John Campbell of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, which worked with the team to optimise the manufacturing process and produce engineered macrophages for clinical use.
Edinburgh Innovations supported the spinout process and the collaboration between Professor Forbes and Syncona.
Therapies plus allogeneic platform
The extended Series A funding will allow Resolution to continue to develop its autologous macrophage cell therapies alongside broadening its research activity into the development of an allogeneic platform to produce “off-the-shelf” macrophage cell therapies.
Martin Murphy, Chief Executive of Syncona Investment Management Limited and Board Director of Resolution, said:
We are pleased to support Resolution, the leading developer of macrophage cell therapies for patients with advanced liver disease. The company has made strong progress in developing its autologous platform and the addition of an allogeneic platform to will help to ensure that its products can treat the broadest possible group of patients.
panCELLa deal for safer cell technology
Separately, Resolution has announced a research collaboration with private biotechnology company panCELLa, which makes cell lines incorporating therapeutic cell-focused Platform Technologies that are widely available for the treatment of degenerative, infectious and malignant diseases.
Under the collaboration agreement, panCELLa is providing its hypo-immunogenic engineered iPSC technology to Resolution, which has an option to obtain commercial rights to use the panCELLa technology in the field of macrophage biology.
Resolution will have access to panCELLa’s FailSafeTM and induced Allogeneic Cell Tolerance (iACT Stealth CellsTM) platforms, paving the way for Resolution to progress the development of its allogeneic macrophage programme, expanding the company’s pipeline with iPSC-derived macrophages.
Mahendra Rao, Chairman of panCELLa, said:
Resolution technology and innovation are impressive and we believe in their plan for the development of macrophage cell therapy for advanced liver disease. Resolution is well-positioned to develop off-the-shelf products that maintain optimal macrophage function with prevention of immune rejection, which are critical for persistent engraftment of cells and clinical benefit.
