Kineta targets viral and autoimmune diseases.
By Azam on December 15, 2008 
Kineta is a biotech start up targeting viral and autoimmune disease with a screening platform for bio switch to turn on immune defense. Kineta is founded by two former veterans Shawn Iadonato and Charles Magness from Illumigen Biosciences which was acquired by Cubist for $9M and potential upside of more than $300 million in milestone payments. Kineta is being advised by scientific advisers Michael Gale and Michael Katze from University of Washington experts n the field of innate immunity.
Kineta has developed a “proprietary screening platform” to identify drugs that activate the retinoic acid inducible gene I protein, known as RIG-I, which the company describes as a “switch that triggers the human body’s immune defenses against virus infection.”
The startup will focus on treatments for diseases such as influenza, West Nile virus, hepatitis C, Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. It will also focus on “orphaned diseases” that effect small or remote populations and receive little attention from Big Pharma companies.
Kineta is doing preclinical work for Cubist and has a commitment of “substantial development funding” from the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research program.
Tags : AutoImmune Disease, Bio Switch, Charles Magness, Cubist, Illumigen Biosciences, Innate Immunity, Kineta, Michael Gale, Michael Katze, NIH, RIG-I, SBIR, Shawn Iadonato, viral