NXI Therapeutics expands management team and board ahead of next growth stage

NXI Therapeutics' new CEO Dr. Ruben Herrendorff is a co-founder and former CEO of Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals AG, a bluechip VC-backed biotech developing a new antigen-specific technology platform to tackle antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases. The company was also a Venture Kick winner in 2015, earning an award of CHF 130,000.

The company also announced that it appointed Dr. Ulf Grawunder to its Board of Directors. Dr. Grawunder is a successful serial biotech entrepreneur who has founded and exited two biotech companies since 2004: 4-Antibody (sold to US-based Agenus) and NBE-Therapeutics (sold to Boehringer Ingelheim). He recently became a Managing Partner at Swiss Viopas Venture Consulting and he has co-founded TCURX, which is focused on the development of next-generation CAR-T cell therapies for cancer patients, where he has recently assumed the position of CEO. Dr. Grawunder also serves as a Venture Kick jury member, applying his expertise as a life-science entrepreneur to help boost young innovators.

NXI Therapeutics is a spin-off from the Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland and is committed to creating tomorrow’s safe immunotherapies by leveraging a novel targeted approach in T cell immunology.

NXI Therapeutics is pioneering the development of selective immunosuppressants that target the coronin 1 pathway, which regulates those T-cell immune responses that play a key role in graft rejection and autoimmunity while leaving the protective responses against infections and vaccination intact. Coronin 1 depletion in preclinical models allows long-term acceptance of genetically unrelated organ transplants, prevents Graft vs Host Disease (GvHD), protects from several autoimmune disorders, and at the same time allows maintaining a normal life span without infections and emergence of cancer, a frequent complication of contemporary immunosuppressants. Thus, modulating coronin 1 signaling holds great potential for more efficient and safer treatments for autoimmune diseases, as well as for transplantation, by realizing powerful targeted immunosuppression that preserves immunocompetence.

The company is currently securing its next round of funding. Dr. Ruben Herrendorff commented: "Joining NXI Therapeutics is a unique opportunity to support the company to realize these truly transformative therapies for patients affected by autoimmune diseases or those requiring organ/stem cell transplants. I am highly impressed by the underlying biology, the vast medical potential, and the clearly differentiated safety profile of this new therapeutic approach. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop and introduce the next generation of safe immunotherapies with broad applicability."

Co-founder and CSO Rajesh Jayachandran, MD Ph.D., noted: "NXI Therapeutics aims to develop modulators of the coronin 1 signaling pathway as a novel class(es) of drugs which have the potential to bring about significant and meaningful clinical improvements for people affected by autoimmune disorders and/or following transplantation. We have recently bolstered our strong scientific expertise with biopharmaceutical entrepreneurial experience, and are now well-placed for the next exciting growth stage. Ruben significantly strengthens the management and will help to bring our important medicines to clinical validation.”

"I am deeply impressed by the depth and quality of the science underlying NXI Therapeutics’ approach to developing novel drug candidates that address unmet needs in autoimmunity and inflammation, " Dr. Ulf Grawunder states (pictured right). "Ruben has extensive business experience in building innovation-driven biotech enterprises and Rajesh is an outstanding clinician to drive the clinical translation of NXI Therapeutics’s drug assets. I am highly dedicated to supporting the management to bring new and transformative drugs to the market and to patients."

NXI Therapeutics won CHF 150,000 as a Venture Kick participant earlier this year.