Astellas, LabCentral Name Thymmune and M13 Innovator Prize Winners

Astellas Venture Management LLC, a venture capital subsidiary of Astellas Pharma Inc., and LabCentral, a launchpad for early-stage life-sciences startups, announced Thymmune Therapeutics and M13 Therapeutics as the winners of the Astellas-sponsored “Future Innovator Prize” at LabCentral. The award offers entrepreneurial scientists or emerging biotechnology startups one-year access to LabCentral’s state-of-the-art lab facility in Cambridge, MA, as well as access to Astellas’ R&D capabilities and business leaders.
 
Thymmune and M13 were chosen for the innovation in their approach, the therapeutic potential of their research and the potential expandability of their technological platforms.
 
“We applaud the efforts of Thymmune Therapeutics and M13 Therapeutics in the advancement of potential cell therapeutics for immunologic disorders and monogenic disease indications that may be treated through gene therapies respectively,” said Maruyama, President, AVM. “We look forward to helping them realize their potential in these underserved therapeutic areas. In awarding these Future Innovator Prizes, we are reinforcing Astellas’ ongoing commitment to discovering and advancing innovative science and to providing VALUE for the future benefit of patients worldwide.”
 
Thymmune is a preclinical biotechnology company applying its thymic engineering platform to develop and commercialize cell therapy products addressing significant opportunities with unmet clinical need across immunology.
 
M13 Therapeutics is a non-viral gene therapy platform working to overcome the limitations of the current gene therapy landscape by harnessing phage-derived-particles (PDPs). M13 Therapeutics’ aims to offer accessible and scalable genomic medicines across a wide range of rare and common genetic disease indications.
 
“The Astellas Future Innovator Prize can give these emerging companies a leg up in their development process by giving access not only to our supportive environment, but also some of the brightest pharmaceutical minds in the industry at Astellas,” said Johannes Fruehauf, LabCentral co-Founder and President. “The combination of these two opportunities may allow these companies to realize their dream of helping patients in their chosen field of research.” 

Both Thymmune Therapeutics and M13 Therapeutics will continue their residence at LabCentral with the next year sponsored by Astellas. Both will be closely supported by the team from AVM and the Astellas Biomedical Innovation Hub organizations in the Boston area to maximize their progress.