On February 1, 2024 Affirma Biotech reported the company obtained €1.75 Million to advance the development of its new broad spectrum anti-infectives.

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• The company has successfully closed its latest financing round led by NARA Capital and its current investors.

• Affirma Biotech leads a consortium with the University of Barcelona and IS Global that has received a total of €899,552 within the framework of the call Publico Private Collaboration projects from the Spanish State Research Agency for research into new immunomodulatory therapies against bacterial infections of unresolved severity.

• In addition, the company has received a CDTI-NEOTEC grant of €250,000 for the development of its candidates in the field of antiviral therapies. The development of new broad-spectrum anti-infective products represents an innovative strategy with great potential for economic and social impact in this area.

• Viral infections such as influenza and hepatitis B and resistant bacterial infections pose great challenges to global health systems and there is a great need for innovation and the development of new products in these indications.

The company Affirma Biotech has obtained a total of €1.75 million that will allow it to advance its candidates for the treatment of viral and bacterial infections through the activation of the immune system.

The application of this biological mechanism, that brought a revolution in its application in immuno-oncology treatments, has not been explored to date in the field of infectious diseases, where it could provide relevant advances for the improvement of global health. The therapeutic strategy consisting in reactivating the immune system is compatible with the use of other classic antivirals or antibacterials, and it could generate synergistic effects to benefit the resolution of serious infectious.

The company has successfully closed an investment round led by Nara Capital and the some of its current shareholders, like BCN Peptides, Reig Jofre Investments and Alfons Hidalgo, and some other new partners, like the investment vehicle GTTB, managed by the consulting firm Genesis Biomed and minority investors through the platforms Capital Cell and its international partner Seedblink.

Affirma Biotech has discovered a family of new immune activating compounds and has filed a patent to protect them in March 2023. Since there are multiple infectious diseases that can benefit from treatment through the activation of the immune system, these compounds can be used in a wide spectrum of indications. The first two that the company plans to develop are treatments for severe influenza and chronic hepatitis B. In the case of influenza, despite vaccination campaigns, the WHO estimates that annual deaths reach 650,000 patients. Chronic hepatitis B affects about 300 million patients worldwide and is the main cause of liver cancer, which causes mortality of up to 1 million people per year.

The company has also received support from the CDTI, with the NEOTEC grant worth €250,000 which will allow to advance in proof-of-concept tests in the antiviral indications, as well as reinforce the company’s business plan, with the aim of raising new financing at the beginning of 2025 for the preclinical development and clinical phase 1 of its candidates.

To advance in the proof-of-concept tests for infections caused by resistant bacteria, which also produce the exhaustion of the immune system, Affirma Biotech leads a research consortium with the participation of University of Barcelona and IS Global. This consortium has received a total of €899,552 within the framework of the call Publico Private Collaboration projects from the Spanish State Research Agency.

Maribel Berges, founder and CEO of the company, stated that "it crucial to innovate in areas such as infectious diseases, generating new drugs that contribute to solving the increasingly urgent challenge that these indications pose for global health systems" .She hopes that an innovative approach like the one they are currently investigating "will significantly improve the treatment of infections that currently do not have a complete medical solution." Berges points out that the company’s objective is to start clinical trials within a maximum period of two years.

(Press release, Affirma Biotech, FEB 1, 2024, View Source [SID1234662180])