The deal was led by BStartup, Banco Sabadell’s startup investment unit, and will support the Gregorio Marañón Hospital spin-off in advancing its immune-regulation treatment.
Thytech, a startup founded by researchers from the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, has just closed its first €350,000 funding round. The round was led by Banco Sabadell through its BStartup Health program, with participation from Genesis Biomed and private investors.
The medtech company is developing a cell therapy aimed at preventing transplant rejection, treating autoimmune diseases, and even reducing mortality in severe COVID-19 patients. This unique, world-first treatment was developed by researchers from the Immuno-Regulation Laboratory at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, led by Rafael Correa Rocha and researchers Esther Bernaldo de Quirós Plaza, Marjorie Pion, and Marta Martínez Bonet. The innovation is based on the use of thyTreg cells, which have regulatory properties and can control immune hyperactivation processes responsible for various serious and highly prevalent diseases.
“Although the results are still preliminary, this strategy could open a new era in the treatment of many diseases associated with harmful inflammatory processes,” said Correa Rocha. “By re-educating patients’ immune responses and restoring proper immune balance through thyTreg therapy, we can prevent transplant rejection and successfully treat autoimmune diseases or clinical deterioration in COVID patients.”
An Innovative and Promising Therapy
Thytech’s novel approach is based on using the thymus — an organ located above the heart and typically discarded during cardiac surgery — as the source for obtaining Treg cells. Treg cells extracted from thymic tissue are isolated and activated in the laboratory, producing a therapy with strong potential for treating transplant rejection, autoimmune diseases, and immune hyperactivation and cytokine storms, the leading cause of death in the most severe COVID-19 cases.
The researchers are already using the therapy to prevent rejection in infant heart transplant recipients, with very promising preliminary results. ThyTreg therapy has been successfully administered to four children at Gregorio Marañón Hospital. The first patient, a six-month-old baby who underwent a heart transplant, continues to progress favorably one year after treatment, with no signs of rejection.
Currently focused on pediatric patients, this promising therapy opens the door to reducing the use of immunosuppressive drugs in these conditions, along with the side effects associated with their long-term use.
BStartup Closes Its Fourth BStartup Health Call
Thytech is the second formalized investment among the three startups selected in the fourth edition of BStartup Health, which received 121 applications from startups and spin-offs. The program supports pre-seed and seed-stage healthcare projects, with funding primarily aimed at validating both the technology or research and the business model.
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