TreeFrog Therapeutics nabs €30M in funding to accelerate its iPSC technology, planning Parkinson’s trial in 2027
TreeFrog has developed a proprietary iPSC manufacturing process called C-Stem, moving one step closer to human trials.
TreeFrog Therapeutics has secured €30 million in debt financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the company’s induced pluripotent stem cell technology. The funds will support its lead candidate for Parkinson’s, other therapies in the pipeline, and its manufacturing platform called C-Stem.
As you may know, manufacturing iPSCs comes with a novel set of challenges, namely: cost, scale, quality control, and differentiation consistency. Enter TreeFrog’s C-Stem iPSC manufacturing platform.
C-Stem plans to enable high-quality iPSC production at industrial volumes by combining microfluidics (technology for manipulating small volumes of fluid) and stem cell biology to mimic the natural cellular environment during production.
The iPSCs are encapsulated in alginate capsules, allowing them to self-organize and grow in a protected environment. Then, the encapsulated cells expand exponentially and can be differentiated into various cell types within large-scale bioreactors, resulting in what they say are robust three-dimensional microtissues with improved quality and functionality, and enhanced integration following transplantation.
They mention on their site that one manufacturing run produces up to 15 billion iPSCs with 98% viability.
If your head is spinning, here’s a video explainer:
And here’s a 15-minute presentation from the CEO from last year:
TreeFrog Therapeutics plans to enter human trials by 2027 for its Parkinson’s iPSC therapy.
