By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA – Celtaxsys Inc., a company with a technology that modulates inflammatory response, has raised more than $2 million toward a $5 million round, according to a regulatory filing.
The company disclosed the raise in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Celtaxsys, located in the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center, is working on a unique way to get immune system cells to where they’re needed and block them when they’re not.
The company says it is initially focused on treatments for cancer.
The technology could lead to new drugs to treat autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and others as well.
Founded in 2004, Celtaxsys raised $5.7 million from Master’s Capital and GLG, the largest hedge fund in Europe, in 2005.
In a previous interview with TechJournal South, Celtaxsys CEO William Riddick, president, said the company’s “secret sauce” is a series of assays that detect and quantify chemo-repulsion. “By using these, we’re able to detect and identify proteins that signal the immune system to move backwards,” he said.
That is important for several reasons. “A whole series of diseases are caused by too many immune cells aggregating in the wrong place,” he said.
“In asthma, for instance, errant signals tell immune cells to go to the lungs, which causes difficulty in breathing.” Remove them and you can treat the asthma.”
Initially, the company is focused on cancerous tumors that make chemo-repellants to chase away immune system cells. When they do that, the tumors grow.
“Our compounds would block the chemo-repellant to get a more complete immune response with fewer side effects,” he said.
“All we really do is allow the immune system to do what it’s already primed to do.”
He says the company believes it will be able to identify effective chemo-repellants that can be used as drugs.
It would prefer to find chemical agents as opposed to proteins, which are expensive to make and sell.
Celtaxsys seeks partnerships with companies that have large compound libraries.
Online: www.celtaxsys.com
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