NexImmune (NASDAQ:NEXI) is a biopharmaceutical company organized around adressing treatment of cancer by directing T cell function to restore natural immunity using precision technology and personalized therapeutics. Firm went puiblic Feburay 2021. Underpinned by technology exclusively licensed from John Hopkins University, the Companys proprietary AIM Technology uses artificial Antigen Presenting Cells (aAPC) to create highly targeted T cell-based immunotherapies. In preclinical studies, aAPC have demonstrated the ability to expand antigen-specific T cells when injected directly (in vivo) or when used as part of an ex vivo cellular expansion system. In February 2017 it had bee reported that a consortium of private investors had acquired NexImmune Inc - investors leaded up by chairman of Teva and former chairman Celgene, Managing director of VC firm Sunflower Life Sciences and former chairman and CEO of Medtronic. Following the acquisition, a new board of directors was formed with former Schering-Plough CMO as chairman. With all the indications that the new owners will revitalize what had seemed to be a struggling operation, NexImmune LLC had been an early stage biopharmaceutical company developing immuno-therapeutics based on the proprietary Artificial Immune (AIM) technology. With AIM technology having been designed to orchestrate specific immune system responses in a highly controllable and reproducible way independent of the healthiness or abundance of the patients natural antigen presenting cell (APC) population, AIM provided an important advance in the development of immuno-therapies for a variety of cancers and other diseases. Natural APCs are major players in the bodys immune system as they direct the immune system cells in attacks on specifically targeted antigens and cells. However, under certain disease conditions, natural APCs can be damaged, absent or inactive. Central to the AIM technology is the artificial Antigen Presenting Cell (aAPC) which in its basic form has four components: the bead that serves as a synthetic cellular core; recombinant HLA-Ig dimer molecules that present a specific antigen to T cells; the antigen to stimulate a specific T cell response; and a co-stimulatory molecule that facilitates activation of T cells. This technology holds great potential for use in immuno-therapy because aAPCs can be engineered in such a way that a highly specific immune attack can be directed toward any foreign substance or cell type in a patients body. Initial focus is on the development of AIM-based cancer therapeutics.
