Crowdfunding Campaign Launched for MS, Other Clinical Programs

FibroBiologics has launched an online crowdfunding campaign to support the development of potential therapies in the company’s pipeline and advance its clinical programs in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other diseases.

The campaign was begun in collaboration with StartEngine, an equity crowdfunding platform that facilitates investments in startup companies. Part of the funds will be used to conduct preclinical studies of CYMS101 that support an investigational new drug (IND) application requesting clearance to initiate clinical trials in MS indications.

“We’re excited to partner with StartEngine on this campaign. StartEngine has over 600,000 investors as part of their community and has raised over half a billion dollars for its clients,” Pete O’Heeron, the founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, said in a press release.

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Other clinical programs include the company’s lead candidate for degenerative disc disease, which has been cleared to enter a Phase 1/2 trial, as well as investigational therapies for wound healing, cancer, and life extension.

“This is an exciting time at FibroBiologics as we continue progressing our clinical pipeline and developing innovative therapies to treat chronic diseases. This new funding will fuel our growth in the lab and bring us one step closer to commercialization,” O’Heeron added.

In its first day live, the crowdfunding reached more than $1 million in new investments, making it “the fastest rising biotech offering in StartEngine’s history,” the company wrote in a second press release.

FibroBiologics is focused on developing treatments based on fibroblasts, which are large cells responsible for making the extracellular matrix that gives support to most cells and tissues. Fibroblasts are involved in wound healing and tissue regeneration, and also are able to reduce inflammation.

Due to their large abundance, and because these cells also are relatively easy to obtain, maintain, and grow in the lab, fibroblasts have gained some attention as a treatment approach for MS and other chronic diseases.

FibroBiologics’ experimental treatment for MS, CYMS101, is an experimental cell-based therapy made of fibroblasts collected from the skin of a healthy donor that do not cause an unwanted immune response.

A single into-the-vein infusion of CYMS101 was found to ease disease activity in a mouse model of MS by increasing the number of regulatory T-cells, a type of immune cells that dampen responses from other immune cells to help keep the system in check.

CYMS101 also appeared safe in an early Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT05080270) that included four people with relapsing-remitting MS and one person with secondary progressive MS. The company now is planning to submit an IND application to launch a Phase 1/2 clinical trial testing multiple infusions of CYMS101 in a larger population.

According to O’Heeron, the crowdfunding “support is a tribute to the breakthroughs our scientists are developing in the lab. We are focused on creating innovative treatments and cures for patients suffering from chronic diseases through our ‘next generation’ pipeline of cell therapies.”