The Catalan biotech company Integra Therapeutics will receive 10.5 million euros from the European Commission to boost its advanced therapies platform. The company, a spin-off from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), has been one of the 68 selected out of 969 deeptech candidates by the European Innovation Council Accelerator program.
Specifically, it will receive a grant of 2.5 million euros and a direct investment of up to another eight million from the EC. Integra Therapeutics will allocate these initial 2.5 million euros from the grant to pre-commercialization activities for its FiCat platform for the development of cell therapies for rare, autoimmune, and oncological diseases.
In parallel, it will carry out the proof of concept of the platform in a gene therapy for the treatment of a severe pediatric liver disease. In addition, it will promote the expansion of its platform to extrahepatic indications, in order to make its state-of-the-art technology available to as many patients as possible.
Within this operation, the EC plans to acquire a stake in Integra Therapeutics in 2025, with a participation that could reach these eight million euros, to advance the clinical development of the first gene therapy product for this pediatric disease.
The funding through the EIC Accelerator will represent "a great boost for Integra Therapeutics and the gene writing platform," according to the company's CEO, Avencia Sánchez-Mejías. The co-founder of Integra Therapeutics, along with Marc Güell, also highlighted that 21% of the companies selected by the program are led by women, which represents "a step forward, although the gender gap in leadership positions in the sector can still be improved."