In the European Union alone, approximately 7.4 million individuals suffer from celiac disease. If untreated, celiac disease can lead to life-threatening conditions such as lymphoma, intestinal carcinoma, osteoporosis, and spleen atrophy. The only causal treatment so far is a strict, life-long gluten-free diet. However, gluten is found in most standard foods such as bread, pasta, or even beverages, which makes a life-long adherence to a gluten-free diet very challenging.

Allero Therapeutics’ goal is to develop a curative treatment for patients suffering from celiac disease by restoring immune tolerance with a short-course treatment. The Company has already demonstrated that its antigen-specific SOMIT therapy modulates the oral mucosa, which is an important target for the treatment of patients with celiac disease (Frontiers in Immunology), and results in efficacious desensitization in a translational food allergy model following a short-course sublingual immunotherapy protocol (Clinical & Experimental Allergy).

"We are delighted about the EIC Horizon grant, which allows us to accelerate the development of our SOMIT therapy for celiac disease patients," said Emil Pot, CEO of Allero Therapeutics. "We are convinced that our approach can be translated to other immune disorders and are committed to bringing our SOMIT therapy to patients in urgent need of disease-modifying or even curative treatments."

Recently, Allero entered into a research collaboration agreement with a large pharma company in an undisclosed disease indication.

Allero Therapeutics’ application for this EIC Accelerator grant in the Horizon Europe funding program (2021-2027) was prepared with the dedicated support of the life science and health consulting firm FFUND (https://ffund.nl/).