STAT+: Chasing CAR-T, biotech finds its next gold rush in autoimmune disease

Biotech investors have been buzzing around new areas of drug development this year, such as the red-hot obesity market. But there’s one field that has seen an even more significant amount of activity: autoimmune diseases.

Companies that are developing new medicines for autoimmune conditions, as well as other immune system disorders, have brought in more money and closed more deals so far this year than most other areas, including the cardiometabolic field, data from investment bank Oppenheimer show. (Oncology remains king when it comes to investment, driven in part by interest in new approaches like radiopharmaceuticals).

In the first half of 2024, venture capitalists pledged more than $1.7 billion to companies developing treatments for conditions in which the body’s own immune system goes haywire, attacking healthy cells and tissues and causing widespread damage. If the trend continues, autoimmune companies could raise double the amount of money that they raised at the height of the biotech market in 2021, according to data compiled by HSBC.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…