Professor Eicke Latz, Director of the Institute, and Professor Matthias Geyer, Department Head for Structural Immunology, are scientific Co-founders of IFM Therapeutics. IFM Therapeutics’ scientific mission is to generate therapeutic products that can enhance innate immune system activity to attack cancer and that can decrease innate immune system activity in autoimmune disorders and diseases caused by excessive inflammation.
“Establishing a research site in Bonn will allow IFM to capitalize on the rich expertise within the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn and facilitate interactions with two of our scientific Co-founders, Dr. Latz and Dr. Geyer,” noted Gary D. Glick, CEO of IFM Therapeutics and Managing Director of IFM Therapeutics GmbH.
The Institute of Innate Immunity is part of the Excellence Cluster ImmunoSensation at the University of Bonn. The Excellence Cluster ImmunoSensation is a multidisciplinary collaboration of different faculties and institutes which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to foster innovative science in immunology. IFM’s site at the University of Bonn provides unique access to deep innovative biology as well as cutting edge clinical sciences.
“As a physician-scientist I am passionate about transforming discoveries from the bench into products for patients with serious illnesses,” said Dr. Eicke Latz. “This has always been a driving force in my science and with IFM we have the opportunity to make this vision a reality.”
“It is deeply rewarding to see that our scientific excellence does not stop at basic science, but that the University of Bonn contributes to translational undertakings that have the potential to truly improve healthcare,” said Professor Michael Hoch, Rector of the University.
IFM Therapeutics GmbH has already started laboratory operations in Bonn and hired a core staff of scientists focusing on the discovery and development of drugs that modulate targets in the innate immune system for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Over the next several years, the company plans to scale this site to accelerate R&D efforts in inflammatory sciences and medicine.
About IFM Therapeutics
IFM Therapeutics is a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts and Bonn, Germany. Seeded by Atlas Venture, the company was founded in 2015 by an international group of preeminent scientists and physicians to discover and develop small molecules that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system as next generation therapies for cancer, autoimmunity, and inflammatory disorders. In June 2016, IFM closed a $27 million Series A financing led by Atlas Venture and Abingworth, with participation from Novartis. Drugs in the IFM portfolio are expected to significantly improve upon standard of care agents in terms of efficacy and safety. For more information, please visit www.ifmthera.com.
Contact information:
IFM Therapeutics
U.S. Contact:
Jim Hampe
SVP of Business Development, Operations, and Strategy
Tel. +1 (781) 267-4858
Email: jim@ifmthera.com
Germany Contact:
Maja Kraas
Vice President of Operations and Site Head
Tel. +49 (179) 391-6200
Email: maja@ifmthera.com
