Emerging Biotech

Infinova Biosciences

Infinova Biosciences is building a next-generation drug delivery platform using engineered neutrophils to overcome barriers in solid tumor therapy.

Company Snapshot

Overview

Indication: Hard-to-treat solid tumors (initially glioblastoma)

Unmet need: Poor drug penetration, dismal prognosis, lack of treatment options.

Infinova’s Approach: First-in-class neutrophil-based drug delivery platform.

Real-World Impact: Addresses a major need in oncology with potential to improve outcomes for patients in desperate need

Infinova’s Team: Industry veterans with decades of experience and multiple FDA approvals.

Clinical Development

Lead Program: CLTX-CAR-Neutrophils for Glioblastoma

Delivery Route: Systemic infusion (non-invasive) of drug nanoparticle-loaded neutrophils

Stage: Preclinical

Planned Study: First-in-human Phase 1 trail in GBM

Current Status: Raising funds to support IND and clinical initiation

Impact & Market Opportunity

Incidence: For GBM: ~12,000 new cases/year

Market Growth: For GBM treatment landscape: $844.8M in 2025, CAGR +5.7%, reaching $1.5B by 2035. Sources below.

Company Overview: Infinova Biosciences

Infinova Biosciences is an emerging biotechnology company based in Zionsville, Indiana, developing an innovative solution to one of oncology’s toughest challenges: delivering therapeutics to hard-to-treat solid tumors.

Built on technology spun out of Dr. Xiaoping Bao’s lab at Purdue University, Infinova is advancing a CAR-neutrophil drug delivery platform designed to release potent payloads deep within the tumor microenvironment. The company is initially targeting glioblastoma, with plans to expand into other tumor types such as pancreatic cancer.

Led by biotech veterans Tamara Jovonovich and Rob Lewis (see full profiles in the Company Leadership section), Infinova is currently in preclinical development and actively raising funds to support its first-in-human clinical study.

Infinova Biosciences: Major Sections

The Medical Need

The Challenge: Getting Drugs to Tough-To-Treat Solid Tumors

Despite major advances in oncology, many solid tumors remain notoriously resistant to treatment – not because we lack effective drugs, but because we can’t get the drugs where they need to go.

Tumors like glioblastoma (GBM) and pancreatic cancer create formidable defenses that block drug delivery in the form of natural barriers like the blood-brain barrier, as well as tumor-specific conditions such as dense collagen matrices and large regions of poor vasculature.

For example, temozolomide (TMZ), the standard chemotherapy for GBM, achieves brain concentrations of only about 20% of the systemic dose due to efflux transporters at the BBB. Consequently, many potentially effective drugs fail to reach therapeutic levels within the tumor, undermining treatment efficacy.

Despite decades of research, the standard treatment options for GBM and pancreatic cancer are very toxic and have changed very little since their standardization. Despite the harsh regimens, most patients still face extremely poor prognoses, and the modest improvements in survival over time reflect a broader failure to overcome the core challenge: delivering therapy effectively to the tumor.

This lack of true innovation has left current treatment strategies outdated, underscoring the urgent need for bold, biology-driven solutions.

That’s exactly what Infinova Biosciences is delivering.

Infinova's Solution

Infinova's Solution: A First-In-Class CAR-Neutrophil Drug Delivery Platform

Advancements in cellular engineering technologies have opened new possibilities for using cells as drug carriers, enabling the delivery of therapeutic compounds directly to disease sites, including deep into tumor tissue.

One very promising cell type in this regard is the neutrophil. This is thanks to two inherent characteristics of neutrophils:

1. Neutrophils are “phagocytes” (they are able to “eat stuff”) and can engulf large particles – including drug-loaded nanoparticles – and release them when they die.

2. Neutrophils are incredibly mobile – they are naturally able to cross the BBB, home to sites of inflammation, and migrate into hypoxic tissue…as such, they are able to infiltrate deep into dense solid tumors.

So, not only are they able to dive deep into tumor tissue, they are also able to carry drug-loaded nanoparticles and release them upon entry – like planting an explosive deep behind enemy lines.

Infinova builds on these natural properties by engineering neutrophils with tumor-targeting CARs, enhancing their ability to selectively recognize and accumulate at tumor sites. These CAR-neutrophils are then incubated with drug-loaded nanoparticles, and then infused systemically.

Upon infusion, the CAR-neutrophils naturally migrate deep into tumor tissue, engage antigen-positive tumor cells with their CAR, eventually die and release their therapeutic payloads directly into the tumoswapping r microenvironment – enabling potent, localized drug delivery in areas that are traditionally unreachable by standard therapies.

Clinical Development

Development Roadmap

Spring 2025

Completed Licensing Agreement with Purdue University

Summer 2025

IND Filing

Early 2026

Initiation of Phase 1 Trial

Infinova Biosciences recently completed a licensing agreement with Purdue University, securing the foundational intellectual property for its CAR-neutrophil delivery platform.

The company is currently focused on IND-enabling activities for its lead candidate, CLTX-CAR-NE, with a target IND submission in mid-2025. Pending regulatory clearance, Infinova anticipates initiating a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial in glioblastoma in early 2026.

Pipeline

CLTX-CAR-NEs for the treatment of Glioblastoma

Discovery

Preclinical

Early-Stage Clinical

Late-Stage Clinical

Example Title

Infinova’s lead program, CLTX-CAR-NE, is being developed for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), including in patients who are not eligible for surgical resection.

CLTX-CAR-NEs are CAR-expressing neutrophils that are derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) – in the case of GBM, the CAR uses a chlorotoxin extracellular domain that will bind to MMP2 (highly expressed on GBM cells) – that are then loaded with Tirpazamine-loaded Silicon Oxide nanoparticles.

These nanoparticle-loaded CLTX-CAR-NEs are then infused systemically at point-of-care.

The company is currently raising funds to support the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Impact & Market Opportunity

Real-World Impact & Market Opportunity: GBM Therapy

While Infinova Biosciences CAR-neutrophil platform is modular and has broad potential across multiple solid tumor types, the company’s initial focus is glioblastoma – a devastating and highly treatment-resistant cancer.

This indication was strategically selected not only because of the platform’s unique ability to cross the blood–brain barrier and penetrate hypoxic tissue, but also because glioblastoma represents one of the most urgent and underserved areas in oncology.

Glioblastoma affects over 12,000 patients annually in the United States, with a five-year survival rate of just 6.9% and accounting for approximately 10,000 deaths each year, making it one of the deadliest and most treatment-resistant cancers in oncology.

As a result, the GBM treatment market represents a significant opportunity for investment due to the significant unmet medical need and growing desire for innovative therapies.

According to Future Market Insights (report snapshot), the glioblastoma treatment drugs market alone is expected to grow from $844.8 million in 2025 to $1.47 billion by 2035.

The report mentions that some of the key drivers behind the growth of this market are:

Rising investments in R&D, particularly in immunotherapy – most likely referring to immune checkpoint inhibitors and cell therapies like CAR-T cells.
The emergence of novel technologies like targeted drug delivery systems that seem to be gaining significant traction.

Some of the challenges include:

Challenges of drug delivery due to the BBB
High cost of therapies
Aggressive and metastatic nature of GBM

Infinova’s technology appears to align with many of the key drivers – cell therapies and targeted drug delivery systems – as well as directly focuses on overcoming a major barrier in the market, bypassing the BBB.

Infinova Biosciences’ Reg-CF

Infinova Biosciences has announced their Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) initiative, offering investors the opportunity to be part of our groundbreaking journey in brain cancer treatment.

Through this SEC-regulated framework, they aim to raise up to $5 million to advance their innovative CAR-neutrophil drug delivery platform. This crowdfunding approach allows both accredited and non-accredited investors to support our mission of transforming glioblastoma therapy.

Click the link below to be redirected to the company’s crowd funding landing page and learn more about how you can become a part of the development of this – potentially – paradigm shifting therapeutic.

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