immune-tolerance
(4)
GentiBio
GentiBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts building engineered regulatory T cell (EngTreg) therapies designed to restore immune tolerance and durably treat autoimmune, autoinflammatory, alloimmune, and allergic diseases. Spun out of research from Seattle Children's, Benaroya Research Institute, and MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, the company combines gene editing of FOXP3 with a modular Treg engineering and manufacturing platform. Its lead program, GNTI-122, is an autologous antigen-specific Treg therapy for recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes now in a Phase 1 trial (POLARIS). GentiBio has raised roughly $177M and signed a partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb worth up to $1.9B in potential milestones.
Kira Biotech Pty Ltd
Kira Biotech is a Brisbane-based clinical-stage immunology company developing first-in-class antibody therapeutics that retrain the immune system instead of broadly suppressing it. Its lead candidate, KB312, selectively depletes activated immune cells to restore immune tolerance, aiming to treat difficult autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, and graft-versus-host disease. Built on decades of dendritic-cell research from Australian institutes and led by US rheumatologist Dr Dan Baker, the company launched with a A$20 million Series A in 2019 led by OneVentures and IP Group.
Dan Baker
Dan Baker is a physician-scientist turned biotech founder who spent two decades at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen division helping bring immunology blockbusters Remicade, Simponi and Stelara to patients, before launching Brisbane-based Kira Biotech in 2019 as its founding CEO. Kira is developing KB312, a first-in-class antibody designed to selectively retrain the immune system rather than broadly suppress it, aimed at autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and type 1 diabetes. A rheumatologist who taught at the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years, Baker also advises drug-development organisations and serves as a healthcare venture partner.
Jason Cole
Jason F. Cole is the founding CEO and board member of Zag Bio, a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech that launched in October 2025 with $80 million to develop thymus-targeted medicines for autoimmune diseases, starting with Type 1 diabetes. A lawyer by training with a J.D. from Columbia and an A.B. in Government from Dartmouth, Cole has spent more than two decades in biotech operations and finance. At bluebird bio he helped grow the company from roughly 100 to 1,200 employees, raised over $3.7 billion in equity financings, and helped deliver multiple first-in-class gene and cell therapies to patients. He most recently led SalioGen Therapeutics as CEO and Board Chair, and serves as Vice Chair of the MassBio board.