IONTAS has been awarded a major grant to support ongoing research into its novel antibody platform, KnotBody™. The grant will allow IONTAS to expand its current interest in targeting antibodies to ion channels, in particular Na_v1.7, to aid the development of therapies for chronic pain management. The total value of the grant will be £794,626 of which IONTAS will receive 70% from the Biomedical Catalyst Primer initiative established by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. 
 
IONTAS’ KnotBody format fuses knottins, small peptides found in venom toxins, within an antibody CDR loop, allowing the ion channel modulating functionality of knottins to be combined with the specificity and in vivo half-life of monoclonal antibodies. Using this technology, IONTAS has developed a Na_v1.7-targeted KnotBody to block pain transmission. The grant will be used to improve target specificity and potency of this KnotBody using well-established methods pioneered by the team at IONTAS and its founding scientists.
 
Dr. John McCafferty, chief executive officer and founder of IONTAS, said, “KnotBody technology allows for selective targeting of ion channels, a class of therapeutic proteins previously seen as difficult to target with antibodies. The co-funding from Innovate UK is a further vindication of the novel science IONTAS is developing and we are excited to expand this technology further, to help generate therapeutic molecules for pain management.”