Orikine Bio, a pioneering biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, research and development of precision-engineered bi-specific cytokine therapies for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases, announces the award of €800k ($868k) in funding from the CPP23 innovation health research program, administered by the Spanish government.
 
Orikine Bio’s Foldikine^TM technology platform is on the cusp of revolutionizing the future of immunotherapy by engineering bi-specific cytokines that go beyond the natural limitations of biology. These cutting-edge, optimized proteins — called Foldikines — are designed to precisely control immune responses, offering unprecedented therapeutic potential for tackling autoimmune, inflammatory and even cancerous conditions. Through this novel and unique approach, Orikine is unlocking new possibilities in treatments where traditional therapies have fallen short.
 
Orikine Bio will use the funding to help accelerate the development of its flagship project, ORK-1, a first-in-class Foldikine treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and other severe autoimmune or inflammatory diseases with significant unmet medical needs. It is estimated that by 2030 more than seven million people in Europe and the United States will be living with IBD.
 
“We would like to extend our gratitude to Spain's Agencia Estatal de Investigación for its continued support of innovative health research. Being accepted into the CPP23 Program marks not only a pivotal milestone in our journey to bring ORK-1 a step closer to patients, but also a strong validation of our innovative approach,” said Dr. Alejo Chorny, chief scientific officer at Orikine Bio. “This support enables us to accelerate our preclinical development timelines. We are looking forward to collaborating with our academic partners and continuing our work towards addressing the critical unmet medical needs of patients worldwide living with autoimmune diseases.”
 
The CPP23 program supports collaborations between industry and academia under the Spanish Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023. Orikine and its academic partners, the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona, will receive total financial support of over €1.5 million ($1.6M) for this research.
 
The funds will be used to conduct ongoing research and preclinical development of ORK-1, including but not limited to, further in vitro and in vivo characterization and validation work in support of later Clinical Trial Application (CTA) or Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies, currently planned to start in 2025.