The SME Immune BioSolutions is in the race to find a drug against COVID-19 and its many variants. Given its small size and the colossal challenge it is tackling, the Sherbrooke company must now find a pharmaceutical partner to finalize the clinical development and marketing of its immunotherapy treatment called IBIO123.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
IBIO123 is an immunotherapy (or biological drug) which will be administered by nebulization, that is to say directly into the respiratory tract. The nebulizer used by Immune BioSolutions turns the drug into a cloud of droplets that the patient inhales into their lungs through a mouthpiece.
“Our immunotherapy is complementary to vaccination,” explains Luc Paquet, President and CEO of Immune BioSolutions. We are attacking a big market, we know that. The ideal treatment for COVID-19 must recognize all mutants. However, our drug recognizes all the mutants that have been identified to date. »
To finance this research project on the IBIO123, the SME with 35 employees was able to take advantage of subsidies and private investments totaling more than 20 million. The vast majority of financial assistance comes from the public sector, including the federal government and its Strategic Innovation Fund ($11 million) and Investissement Québec ($4.5 million).
Humans instead of chickens
Normally, Immune BioSolutions develops its therapeutic antibodies from chickens. Basically, it “hacks” the immune system of chickens in order to create immunotherapies. The antibodies identified are thus used, among other things, for infectious diseases and oncology. This time, in the search for a cure for COVID-19, the recipe is different.
Our animal of choice for COVID-19 is humans. We had access to sera from patients who had been infected, but who recovered. From these antibodies, we made a cocktail. Our antibodies are produced by living organisms, not by synthesis.
Luc Paquet, President and CEO of Immune BioSolutions
Installed in the premises of Espace LABz, the Sherbrooke SME was able to work in collaboration with Canadian university researchers (from the University of Montreal Hospital Center and the CHU Sainte-Justine) and Americans who, upstream, identified antibodies likely to be of interest to the biotechnology company.
Phase 2 of the IBIO123 clinical trials has just started in Brazil and South Africa, where around fifteen patients have been recruited. Steps have been taken to carry out tests in Canada, says Luc Paquet.
Phase 3 (last step) will follow at the appropriate time. Difficult, therefore, to predict when the IBIO123 will be marketed, says the entrepreneur.
PHOTO MAXIME PICARD, LA TRIBUNE
Luc Paquet, CEO of the SME Immune Biosolutions, in Sherbrooke
Aware that biotechnologies are “a risky business”, the boss of Immune BioSolutions admits to concentrating a good part of his energies on IBIO123. “We take that risk,” he said.
Despite everything, the company wants to accelerate the development of its antibody discovery platform. It also wishes to increase its production capacity and multiply its partnerships with the pharmaceutical sector.
In the medium term, she hopes to develop a new immunotherapy against cancer. In this respect, one of the next promising projects of the SME will be the development of an immunotherapy against pediatric leukemia, underlines its manager.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY IMMUNE BIOSOLUTIONS
Jean-François Larrivee, Frédéric Leduc and Simon Gaudreau, co-founders of Immune Biosolutions
Founded 10 years ago by three students from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sherbrooke, Immune BioSolutions has 51 shareholders (individuals, group of investors and investment funds). In recent years, the SME has derived its revenue from partnerships linked to its antibody discovery platform. It has also benefited from grants, loans and private investments.