Scientific grounds

Natural Innate immunity:

Our understanding of the potentials of innate immmunity in terms of therapeutic potential is in its infancy, but several lines of evidence already point to well-defined directions.
The recent demonstration of the existence of a “memory”, called “trained immunity”, is as yet a further incentive to exploit this inherent part of our immune defenses.

Curative dimension:

Well-tolerated forms of viral vectors for gene therapy and gene editing enable safe and repeated injections of the transgene.
New forms of active vaccination for tumors or chronic intracellular infections, in particular when the adaptive response is exhausted, offer the potential of a cure without side effects, as well as a memorization to prevent recurrence.
Switching off tissue inflammation opens the perspective of tissue regeneration and repair in the setting of chronic autoimmune diseases.

Universal approach:

As innate immunity presents little or no polymorphism (variation between individuals), a form of therapy for one individual becomes envisageable for the ensemble of the population.

Uniformity of the clinical response:

As innate immunity is shared between individuals, and the therapy being identical for everyone, the clinical response and potential side-effects should be uniform, providing the opportunity to reduce the size, the number and the cost of clinical trials and of toxicity assessment, in other words, providing a particularly low attrition rate.

Active therapy:

We believe that it remains preferable to approach the treatment of diseases by exploiting the “tools” provided by nature, rather than trying to counteract spontaneous responses. Possibilities offered by vaccination (or immunotherapy) are unlimited, increasing steadily with our “in-depth” technology understanding of physiology.

Biomarkers:

Most importantly, in all such situations, Equaly will put emphasis on the development of biomarkers, i.e. the presence in peripheral blood of gene or protein expression associated with disease prognosis and/or results from therapeutic interventions (theranostics).
Combining therapeutic intervention with the use of specific biomarkers will provide a decision tree adapted to individual needs, thereby minimizing costs and undue administration.

Our technology platforms

Chronic intracellular infections and tumors

Chronic intracellular infections and tumors are associated with immune response exhaustion, thereby preventing pathological consequences of hyperactivation. Equaly’s technology exploits an alternative independent strategy, which is to elicit antigen-specific natural killer T (NKT) cells boosted to maximize their cytotoxic properties and avoid side effects related to reversal of adaptive immunity exhaustion

Immunogenicity of
therapeutic biologicals

Therapeutic biologicals, as well as vectors used for gene therapy or gene editing, elicit host immune responses limiting efficacy, generating side-effects and preventing re-administration. Eliminating their primary interaction with innate immunity generates fully effective non-immunogenic molecules and viral vectors for safe and long-term usage.

Chronic inflammation and
auto-immune diseases

Chronic tissue inflammation remains the major obstacle for the cure of major autoimmune diseases, though the immune system includes cells equipped with an armamentarium of molecules with anti-inflammatory and tissue repair properties. Exploiting such properties in the setting of innate immunity and absence of interindividual variation provides a powerful solution to re-establish a non-inflammatory tissue environment and repair potential.