MacroGenics Inc, a biotechnology company in Rockville, Maryland, today announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the company three new grants representing total funding of $9.8 million. MacroGenics develops therapeutics to treat autoimmune disorders, cancer and infectious diseases.
The company says the NIH grants will advance its Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) platform, as well as its portfolio of infectious disease product candidates. Two of the grants are funded by NIH’s Partnerships for Biodefense Viral Pathogens, and cover research and development to create an antibody-based therapy for Chikungunya Virus and a DART-based pan-Dengue Virus immunotherapeutic for prevention and treatment of Dengue Virus. Both viruses are insect-borne and transmitted to humans by mosquitoes.
A third grant will fund preclinical investigational new drug enabling activities on MacroGenics’ Inflammation DART. This DART specifically targets B lymphocytes with the potential to treat a broad range of autoimmune diseases including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
Macrogenics says it has developed more than 60 different DART molecules and completing multiple in vitro and in vivo proof-of-concept studies with several prototypes.
Photo: Germán Meyer/Flickr
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