Granular Therapeutics to accelerate development of next-generation pipeline for treating mast cell driven diseases

Clinical candidate selection finalised for lead programme targeting mast-cell driven diseases

Dermatology industry veteran Thibaud Portal, PhD appointed as CEO

LONDON, March 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --  Granular Therapeutics, (Granular) a private biotech company specialising in precision biologic therapies for treating mast cell driven disorders, today announces clinical candidate selection for its lead programme which has demonstrated promising results in initial preclinical studies., Granular has now commenced proof-of-concept (POC) and IND-enabling studies as it prepares for clinical development.

Since starting work on these concepts in 2019 with backing from Medicxi, Granular has gained a deep understanding of the biology of mast cells and their role in chronic inflammatory diseases. It has developed a pipeline of next-generation approaches that selectively target mast cells. This approach can drive direct and specific mast cell inhibition, avoid systemic toxicity and enable safe chronic dosing for mast cell driven diseases such as chronic urticaria or systemic mastocytosis.

Brian Kim, Scientific Advisory Board member of Granular Therapeutics, remarked: "Recent data in the field of mast cell driven diseases like Urticaria have shown that tremendous efficacy can be attained, but safety concerns still remain, especially in chronic disease settings. Granular offers a next generation modality that offers the promise of increased selectivity and safety." 

As Granular embarks on the development of its mast cell targeting pipeline of therapies towards clinical phases, it has appointed a dermatology expert, Dr Thibaud Portal, as Chief Executive Officer. Thibaud Portal is a dermatology specialist who was previously Head of Prescription Medicines business and strategy at Galderma SA and is also co-founder of multiple dermatology focused start-up companies. Dr Jonny Finlay, who co-founded Granular and oversaw the discovery phases, will continue to advise the company and will serve on its Board of Directors.

Thibaud Portal, Chief Executive Officer of Granular Therapeutics, commented: "I am honored and delighted to join the Granular team. Selective mast cell targeting offers outstanding opportunities to address a range of disease indications with a high unmet medical need. I believe this new approach is a significant advancement in the field of chronic inflammatory diseases and that Granular has most exciting pipeline in the field." 

Jonny Finlay, Co-founder and Member of the Board of Directors of Granular Therapeutics said: "Finalising the selection of our first clinical candidate is a critical milestone for our company. It is the ideal time to add new competences to the company in order to optimise the positioning of Granular's innovative portfolio of exciting assets across high priority therapeutic areas in the field of chronic inflammatory diseases."

Francesco De Rubertis, Chairman of Granular Therapeutics, added: "We are pleased to welcome Thibaud to Granular's leadership team at this pivotal time of Company growth. As we approach important inflection points, Thibaud's expertise and knowledge will be invaluable in making defining decisions for the future of our innovative programmes."

About Granular Therapeutics

Granular Therapeutics is a UK-based biotechnology company backed by Medicxi, focusing on treatment of mast cell driven diseases. The company was co-founded by Jonny Finlay and Jamie Coleman. Jonny is an industry veteran with two decades of experience in biologics discovery and development in academia, government and pharma whose career spanned CBER-FDA, Wyeth and Pfizer before becoming a Biotech entrepreneur and the founder of Biotech UltraHuman which spun out of LockBody Therapeutics (now a Centessa company), and Granular Therapeutics. Jamie has been involved for many years in the interface between software, healthcare and investment and co-founded UK-based tech incubator CodeBase, as well as UltraHuman. Granular's CSO, Orla Cunningham was previously Senior Director of Pfizer's BioMedicine Design Group leading multi-disciplinary teams across diverse research units and supported discovery programmes from conception through to late-stage development. For further information, please visit www.granulartherapeutics.com

About Medicxi

Medicxi is a healthcare-focused investment firm with the mission to create and invest in companies across the full drug development continuum. Leveraging deep expertise in drug development and company creation spanning over two decades, Medicxi invests in early and late-stage therapeutics with a product vision that can fulfill a clear unmet medical need. For more information, please visit: https://www.medicxi.com.