Companies To Watch: iTolerance

By Wayne Koberstein, Executive Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @WayneKoberstein

Dedicated to curing diabetes and other conditions by inducing local immune tolerance in implantation

SNAPSHOT
iTolerance is in early development of a drug treatment that would eliminate the need for immunosuppression in implantation of islet cells to secrete insulin in patients with Type 1 diabetes. The treatment, coded iTOL- 100, suppresses activated T cells that would otherwise cause immune rejection of the transplanted cells. It does so by binding to the Fas receptor (FasR) on the activated T cells, causing them to die by apoptosis. iTolerance has completed mouse and non-human primate testing on the treatment with positive results. Other organ transplant programs, such as for the liver, are underway or under consideration.