Immunophotonics Enters Research Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson

Immunophotonics, a St. Louis biotech startup developing immunotherapy treatment for cancer, has announced a research collaboration with Johnson & Johnson’s enterprise innovation center and venture capital subsidiary.

According to a press release, the collaboration aims to expand the use of Immunophotonics’ “lead clinical asset, IP-001” by studying its effectiveness in combination with radiation therapy. 

Immunophotonics Aims to Reduce Cancer Recurrence Rates

“Radiation is one of the most common therapies available to treat solid tumors” but the recurrence of cancer frequently claims lives after treatment. 

Therefore the partnership intends to study a new approach that will investigate the effectiveness of combining radiation therapy with the specific immunotherapy drug, IP-001, which is “intended to trigger a systemic, tumor specific adaptive immune response… and thereby reducing cancer recurrence rates.”

Improving Patient Outcomes from Routine Cancer Treatments

Speaking to EQ via email, CEO of Immunophotonics, Lu Alleruzzo, shared his belief that specialized treatment could enhance a patient’s immune response and improve the effectiveness of routine approaches used currently, saying: 

“Radiation, and tumor ablation, have done an excellent job in destroying targeted tumors, leading to positive outcomes for patients. I fundamentally believe that those outcomes can be improved by enhancing a patient’s immune response with the use of IP-001. As such, I am thrilled to announce this collaboration to explore how IP-001 may benefit routine radiation treatments, transforming them into something much more powerful.”

Talking Points: Why this Matters to St. Louis

1. Startup Visibility & Ecosystem Credibility

In light of the honorific “Arch Grants 2013 awardee”, it’s worth recognizing Immunophotonics as one of the earliest biotech startups to get the St. Louis investor and entrepreneurial support community to rally around.

Therefore, now as a clinical-stage biotech company, Immunophotonics’ partnership with a global pharmaceutical giant like Johnson & Johnson enhances the credibility of St. Louis’ BioTech startup ecosystem, at large, and demonstrates the incredible stamina among funders and founders for playing the long game.

I (EQ) got a chance to chat with Lu Alleruzzo on the phone and he agreed that the ecosystem played an important role, saying:

“St. Louis stepped up in a number of ways. The first is being willing to make introductions on behalf of an idea, because at the time, we did not have patient data, we simply believed in the concept of what we were doing. And the St. Louis business community was willing to listen, make introductions to those that could understand the science and also those who could fund the science. Bringing those two worlds together is what allowed us to really move this technology forward. 

BioGenerator stepped up in terms of putting their investment capital behind the concept, but they also got behind the Immunophotonics team and understood that even though there are no guarantees with science, our people are here for the right reasons whether the technology works out or not. So there’s a level of trust and a level of accepting risk, which they gave us that has to be accounted for and really matters. 

And the third aspect, I would say, is opening up the network. I like to say St. Louis is big enough, but small enough. It’s big enough to do all the things that I’ve shared with you today, and it’s small enough to make the right connections. Ultimately, St. Louis enabled me to open up doors all over the world. That’s the truth. And those relationships have continued to mature and grow in a very powerful way. But it all started here in our city.“

— Lu Alleruzzo, CEO of Immunophotonics

For the curious, a good example of St. Louis playing the long game can be found in EQ’s coverage of Confluence, which sold for $100M in 2017.

2. Talent Attraction & Technology Transfer

With a big name behind them such as Johnson & Johnson, this collaboration brings opportunities for future commercial development of successful research projects (known as “technology transfer”) and there is the potential to attract many more highly skilled scientists who seek knowledge exchange and encourage the sharing of expertise around specialized immunotherapies.

3. Investor Confidence & Funding Infrastructure

If you’d like to learn more about Immunophotonics startup journey through St. Louis, this article from STL Inno’s Nathan Rubbelke shares more details about this biotech startup’s current funding, employee headcount, connections to local investors like iSelect, and also explains how the relationship with Johnson & Johnson was developed through a startup incubator program called Jlabs.

The collaboration may also increase confidence among St. Louis’ angel investors, institutions and other community impact organizations, which could inspire further funding of specialized infrastructure and resources for life sciences, such as those provided by BioSTL and BioGenerator, to create a more supportive business environment for all biotechnology startups in the region.

4. Developing Competency & Economic Complexity

Immunophotonics’ work in oncology builds on St. Louis’ core competencies in oncology and therapeutics.

We are a global hub of medical science research and entrepreneurship, with anchor institutions including two teaching hospitals, BioSTL, and Cortex. BioGenerator, the financial arm of BioSTL, invests in entrepreneurship in diagnostics, therapeutics, laboratory tools and measurement, medical devices, and general health care.

St. Louis has long had a key strength in small molecule drug discovery. The use of whole cancer cells in Immunophotoics’ work would thus represent an expansion into the adjacent space of biologics, and will extend and enhance St. Louis’ strength in this key area of oncology therapeutics. This is a powerful way of increasing the region’s economic complexity, which offers a pathway to long-term prosperity.