One of the biggest challenges facing biologic drug developers are varying efficacy and the dangers of side effects. Biotechnology company kyron.bio today announced a €5.5 million funding round to solve these issues using precise control of sugar molecules found on the surface of a drug – also known as glycans.
The seed funding round was led by HCVC, with the participation of Verve Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Saras Capital, and numerous reputable angel investors. The funds will accelerate the development of kyron.bio’s proprietary glycan-engineering platform, expand the kyron.bio team and fuel preclinical studies. Additionally, the funding coincides with the launch of the company’s EIC Transition project, backed by the European Innovation Council.
The company’s vision is to open a new design space for next-generation therapeutics using glycans and to partner with pharmaceutical companies to develop safer, more potent treatments for patients. kyron.bio focuses its technology specifically on antibody therapeutics, a majorly important class of drugs that harness the precision of the immune system to treat a wide range of diseases, including cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The problem with current antibody therapeutics: The patient’s body attacks the therapy
One of the major problems with antibody therapeutics is the patient’s immune system recognizing the treatment as foreign and attacking it. This immune response can be harmful and render the therapeutic ineffective. As drug design becomes more complex and therefore more foreign to the human immune system, this issue is an increasing burden to biopharma companies
This unwanted immune attack is problematic for patients, particularly those with chronic diseases that are treated over a long period of time. It also prevents many novel therapies from making it through the critical Phase I stage of clinical trials, where drug safety is assessed.
kyron.bio’s solution: Precision control over glycans to prevent unwanted immune attack
kyron.bio has pioneered a platform to fully control the process of N-glycosylation, the cellular mechanism that adds glycans to the surface of therapeutics. In standard biomanufacturing, this process is highly inconsistent, producing a mix of glycan structures that can trigger immune responses or reduce therapeutic efficacy. kyron.bio’s breakthrough enables, for the first time, the precise use of specific glycans to prevent unwanted immune attack. This platform is offered as a scalable, plug-and-play solution compatible with standard biopharma manufacturing techniques.
This breakthrough consists of two key elements:
- Novel engineered cell lines: Genetic manipulation of the cells used as production factories (known as Chinese Hamster Ovary cells) to produce antibodies to enable, for the first time, complete control over the glycosylation process.
- Proprietary glycan-engineering toolbox: Engineering of the antibody therapeutic itself to prevent unwanted immune attack and enhance performance, while generating strong new intellectual property (IP).
Together, these technologies allow kyron.bio’s platform to achieve over 97% consistency in glycan structures – an unprecedented level compared to standard bioproduction methods.
This level of glycan control unlocks transformative opportunities in antibody engineering, enabling biologic therapies that can resist degradation, evade immune detection, and target diseases with unprecedented specificity.
The opportunity to partner with kyron.bio on drug design is especially pertinent to pharmaceutical companies working on next-generation monoclonal antibodies. These therapeutics often involve complex designs and multiple targets, which carry a higher risk of immune attack.
In chronic conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, kyron.bio’s technology unlocks the possibility for more patients to receive treatment lifelong, without developing resistance to the therapy, which is sadly the case for many patients today. In oncology, this technology massively increases the chance of drugs passing the critical Phase I stage of development, where drug safety is evaluated.
Challenges like increasing therapeutic complexity and long-term treatments have made immune attack a growing obstacle. kyron.bio’s technology is designed to overcome these issues, paving the way for therapies that can reach more patients and perform better over time. Ultimately, this technology aims to unlock new treatment avenues for patients.
Alexis Houssou, Founder & Managing Partner at HCVC, said: “kyron.bio’s technology bridges a massive gap in therapeutics design. Their breakthrough in glycan control could shift the paradigm for antibody therapies, and we’re proud to support their vision.”
Dr. Emilia McLaughlin, CEO & Founder of kyron.bio, said: “To date, glycans have been massively under-exploited, limiting their potential in drug design. By achieving comprehensive control over glycosylation in a fully scalable manner, we have unlocked the possibility to use precision glycosylation in drug design. This transforms glycans into a design tool for the first time, opening up new treatment avenues for patients. Securing this fundraising round brings us closer to our goal of delivering precision glycan-engineered therapeutics to patients.”
Dr. McLaughlin’s experience studying rare single-cell organisms during her PhD at Institut Pasteur Paris has largely informed kyron.bio’s approach to drug development. The startup, under her leadership, has developed the first-ever scalable, patent-protected method to unlock this molecular design problem.
