Korean-American Venture Capitalist Asia Alpha invests in life sciences companies with funding to German cancer immunotherapies and Israeli orphan diseases. Asia Alpha invested in German company Immactics N.V. and Israeli firm Eloxx Pharmaceuticals.
German company Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ: IMTX; “Immatics”), is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company active in the discovery and development of T cell redirecting cancer immunotherapies. Immatics recently announced the completion of its business combination with Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: ARYA), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Immatics N.V. will commence trading its shares under the symbol “IMTX” and its warrants under the symbol “IMTXW” on the NASDAQ. Proceeds from this transaction were approximately $253 million.
About Immatics
Immatics combines the discovery of true targets for cancer immunotherapies with the right T cell receptors’ development to enable a robust and specific T cell response against these targets. This in-depth know-how is the foundation for the Adoptive Cell Therapies and TCR Bispecifics and the partnerships with global leaders in the pharmaceutical industry. Immactics is committed to delivering T cells’ power and unlocking new avenues for patients in their fight against cancer.
Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (NASDAQ: ELOX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to treat cystic fibrosis and other diseases caused by nonsense mutations limiting the production of functional proteins. The company recently announced that a scientific manuscript titled: “ELX-02 Generates Protein via Premature Stop Codon Read-through Without Inducing Native Stop Codon Read-through Protein”, has been published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
“We are very pleased that our scientific manuscript on ELX-02 which demonstrates that ELX-02 mediates read-through of premature stop codons while maintaining the fidelity of stop codons found at the end of healthy transcripts has been published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics” said Dr. Matthew Goddeeris, Ph.D., Vice President of Research, Eloxx Pharmaceuticals.
“This is an important finding indicating that translation integrity is preserved with target-therapeutic exposure of ELX-02, consistent with the favorable tolerability profile demonstrated across our preclinical and clinical datasets. ELX-02 is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in cystic fibrosis patients with nonsense mutations, for whom there are few if any, treatment options available.”
About Eloxx Pharmaceuticals
Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel RNA-modulating drug candidates (designed to be eukaryotic ribosomal selective glycosides) that are formulated to treat rare and ultra-rare premature stop codon diseases.
Premature stop codons are point mutations that disrupt protein synthesis from messenger RNA. As a consequence, patients with premature stop codon diseases have reduced or eliminated protein production from the mutation bearing allele accounting for some of the most severe phenotypes in these genetic diseases.
These premature stop codons have been identified in over 1,800 rare and ultra-rare diseases. Read-through therapeutic development is focused on extending mRNA half-life and increasing protein synthesis by enabling the cytoplasmic ribosome to read through premature stop codons to produce full-length proteins. Eloxx’s lead investigational product candidate, ELX-02, is a small molecule drug candidate designed to restore the production of full-length functional proteins.
ELX-02 is in the early stages of clinical development, focusing on cystic fibrosis. ELX-02 is an investigational drug that has not been approved by any global regulatory body. Eloxx’s preclinical candidate pool consists of a library of novel drug candidates designed to be eukaryotic ribosomal selective glycosides identified based on read-through potential. Eloxx also has preclinical programs focused on rare ocular genetic disorders and polycystic kidney disease Eloxx is headquartered in Waltham, MA, with operations in Rehovot, Israel, and Morristown, NJ.
About Asia Alpha
Asia Alpha is a New York-based Korean American family office investor in venture capital growth companies in Silicon Valley and Israel. Asia Alpha backs founders from seed through growth. Asia Alpha seeks to add value to each portfolio company and serves on the Board of NYU University Langone Perlmutter Cancer Hospital and has a research fund at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Asia Alpha is supporting diabetes management and post-operative cancer as an investor in Noom, the nutrition and chronic condition management-focused digital healthcare unicorn founded by Korean Saeju Jeong.
