NOVAICOS ImmunoTherapeutics

NOVAICOS ImmunoTherapeutics (NIT) was founded in 2016 as NOVAICOS, a spin-off of the Università del Piemonte Orientale (UPO), by the group of Professor Umberto Dianzani, with the aim of developing  and industrializing important research on the role of ICOS/ICOS Ligando (ICOSL) in immune response. 

ICOS is a protein expressed by T lymphocytes and binds ICOSL expressed by various types of cells  (immune and non-immune). Stimulation of ICOS modulates cytokine production by T helpers, whereas  stimulation of ICOSL modulates dendritic cell function and adhesion and migration of various cell  types. The research analyses new mechanisms of action of ICOS and ICOSL on various cell types,  looking for pharmacological modulators of these activities. 

In the first years of activity, as a start-up of the Incubator of Novara Enne3 and spin-off of the Università del Piemonte Orientale, NOVAICOS: 

• Has obtained, in co-ownership with UPO, two important patents on the technology of ICOS,  linked to a Fc antibody fragment (ICOS-Fc), towards bone and cancer cells. 
• Was awarded partner of the European funding Horizon 2020 “Giotto – Active ageing and  osteoporosis: the next challenge for smart nanobiomaterials and 3D technologies“. 

The project, coordinated by the Institute of Materials Physics and Engineering (IMPE) – Department of  Applied Science and Technology at the Politecnico di Torino, enjoyed a prestigious scientific network  and boasted the collaboration of institutions and companies with a strong R&D vocation.

The objective of the four-year programme, which involved 6 European universities, 3 research centres  and 5 hi-tech companies with a total budget of over EUR 5 million, was to identify new solutions for the  treatment of pathological fractures in subjects with osteoporosis. 

The role of Novaicos was to functionalize specific substrates with ICOS-Fc, which are able to inhibit  bone resorption. 

During the year 2024, NIT has strongly implemented its business plan, relaunching its activity in order  to obtain a pharmaceutical formulation of ICOS-Fc that will allow to complete pre-clinical activities at  regulatory level.  

Thanks to a couple of initial capital increase tranches, that between Y2024 and Y2026 involved members, family and friends – all from the pharmaceutical or medical sector, or potential patients – in 2024 the following activities, among others, have been implemented:

• Change the company name to NOVAICOS ImmunoTherapeutics (NIT), in order to emphasize the  immunotherapeutic vocation and mission.
• Locate the legal site at the Bioindustry Park of Colleretto Giacosa, an important place for the  dissemination of ideas and collaborations in the field of biotech in Piedmont, at the same time  activating its Local Operative Unit in the laboratory of Immunology of Prof. Dianzani at the UPO  Department of Health Sciences in Novara.
• Obtain the status of Innovative SME, for which NIT has already been classified among the  finalists of the Innovative SME award of the year 2024 in Piedmont.
• Acquire from UPO the entire intellectual property of the two patents that were held in joint  ownership, in order to better operate in the search for institutional investors to finance the  regulatory activities to be outsourced.
• Relaunch R&D activities through co-funding of a three-year doctoral fellowship with UPO,  consolidating the scientific and technological partnership as a spin-off, that is leading to new possible patents.

Therefore, NIT’s focus is the pharmaceutical development of the biotechnological molecule ICOS-Fc: 

✓ Since NIT demonstrated its innovative possibility of use, once embraced on specific substrates,

1. To inhibit bone reabsorption,
2. To inhibit tumor growth,

✓ During the planned acceleration of the activities in the NIT R&D platform, the combination of the  two above-mentioned activities has now allowed to develop ICOS-Fc as innovative drug in the  therapy of primitive and metastatic osteolytic bone tumors.

✓ As regards this last indication, bone metastases treatment, the peculiarity of the mechanism of action, of the pharmaceutical and pre-clinical development, make Icos-Fc a potential candidate to become a First-in-Class drug.

✓ As regards this project, already planned, NIT is searching for institutional partners to finance the CMC and pre-clinical development, with the objective to reach the First-in-Human administration of the candidate.