Attralus, formerly known as Aurora Bio, is developing peptope and CAR-M immunotherapies against systemic amyloidosis that does not affect the central nervous system. This excludes diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, but it includes transthyretin amyloidosis, a deadly disease that kills the very old. Its therapy is designed to attract immune cells to amyloids, spurring them to absorb and destroy these harmful protein aggregates.

In September 2020, Attralus announced the completion of a $25 million Series A financing round, which was followed by a $116 million Series B financing round in September 2021.

Its three lead product candidates, AT-02, AT-03 and AT-04, are in pre-clinical and IND-enabling studies, with AT-03 planned to begin a Phase 1 study in systemic amyloidosis.

The company is also developing a radiotracer peptide, AT-01, which is designed to bind to amyloids and trace their presence. This diagnostic radiotracer is currently in Phase 1/2 human clinical trials, the first data of which was presented at the 2021 American College of Cardiology and Society of Nuclear Molecular Imaging annual meetings.