Smart Immune SAS, a Paris-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, has announced a $5 million equity investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the development of ProTcell, a proprietary T-cell therapy platform to treat cancer and infectious disease.

According to Smart Immune, its ProTcell platform ensures early immune reconstitution post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and reverses thymic involution through its proprietary T-cell progenitor-based therapy. Once infused to the patient, these T-cell progenitors migrate to the thymus, stimulate its activity, and are “educated” to become a fully potent T-cell immune repertoire in fewer than 100 days.

The investment will help advance a new Phase I/II clinical trial in adult acute leukemia patients of Smart Immune’s lead asset, SMART 101, an allogeneic cell therapy product made from healthy donor mobilized peripheral blood. Research will provide insights into ways in which the T-cell deficiency associated with HIV may be reversed and may provide a first step toward a universal HIV-resistant cell therapy product.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with the Gates Foundation to improve health outcomes for people around the world,” said Smart Immune CEO and co-founder Karine Rossignol. “Our work in rearming patients’ immune system is particularly exciting for global health since this concept has applications beyond oncology and into infectious diseases such as HIV.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Drazen)