Protectimmun, a Germany-based biopharmaceutical R&D company, has entered into a research funding agreement with Janssen Biotech, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, and Imperial College London. The research agreement, facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, will fund preclinical research conducted at Imperial College by professor Clare Lloyd with one of Protectimmun’s lead candidates in a proof-of-concept disease model of allergic asthma developed by Lloyd.

 Protectimmun focuses on new approaches in the prevention and therapy of allergic and chronic inflammatory diseases. Its innovative concept for product development is based on the identification of natural substances and bacteria with immunomodulatory properties from particular farm environments, which are selectively transferred into pharmaceutical applications. Promising candidates that were successfully tested in proof-of-concept animal models of asthma are currently in mid- to late-stage preclinical development.