Valora launches from Carolyn Bertozzi lab

Valora Therapeutics has launched out of Carolyn Bertozzi’s lab at Stanford University with $30 million in seed funding. The company is developing its antibody-lectin chimera immunotherapy platform to target sugar molecules on cell surfaces that are part of the “sugar code,” which coordinates communication between immune and nonimmune cells. Inappropriate changes to this code can cause defective immune responses. Valora is betting that correcting this code can right the immune response. It will use the funds to further develop the platform and its lead molecules.