Tunitas Therapeutics

About Tunitas Therapeutics

Tunitas Therapeutics was a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing protein therapeutics for severe allergies and asthma. The company was founded in 2007 by Dr. Nolan Sigal and Dr. Andrew Saxon. Dr. Sigal, who served as CEO, had an extensive background in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, including roles at Merck, Pharmacopeia, and Cytokinetics. Dr. Andrew Saxon, the company's Chief Scientific Officer, is a world-renowned expert in clinical immunology and allergy from UCLA, where the company's core technology was developed and exclusively licensed from.

The company's primary business was the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to treat patients with serious allergic diseases. Its proprietary platform was used to generate fusion proteins that target inhibitory pathways on allergic cells, aiming to block the key mediators of allergic hypersensitivity and the production of IgE, the antibody class responsible for triggering allergic responses. The lead drug candidate, epsi-gam, is a bi-functional human fusion protein designed to link the IgE receptor with an inhibitory receptor on mast cells and other key allergic cells, thereby preventing an allergic reaction. This therapeutic was intended for long-term, subcutaneous administration to treat conditions like asthma, atopic dermatitis, and severe food allergies. The company also worked on an allergy vaccine platform, with a candidate for cat allergy expected to be nominated in 2016 for potential clinical trials in 2018.

Tunitas operated on a capital-efficient model, securing nearly $10 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance its platform before its Series A round. In September 2015, the company closed a $10 million Series A financing co-led by Ally Bridge Group and WuXi Ventures, with participation from RA Capital Advisors. These funds were intended to advance the lead candidate, epsi-gam, through Phase 1 and into Phase 2a clinical studies. Preclinical studies showed promising results, and Phase 1 human trials began in Australia in early 2016. Despite these developments, the company is now listed as out of business as of July 2019.