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Wistar start-up has raised $5 million for immunotherapy efforts

Wistar start-up is working treatments that can be given via vaccination.

Hildegund C.J. Ertl, shown on her web page at the Wistar Institute, has cofounded Virion Therapeutics LLC.
Hildegund C.J. Ertl, shown on her web page at the Wistar Institute, has cofounded Virion Therapeutics LLC.Read moreWistar Institute

Virion Therapeutics LLC, a biotech start-up spun out of University City's Wistar Institute, has raised $5 million this year to advance its immunotherapies for chronic hepatitis B virus infections and cancers caused by human papillomavirus, the company said Wednesday.

Hildegund C. J.  Ertl, a professor in Wistar's Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, cofounded Virion with entrepreneurs Andrew D. Luber and Bernard Rudnick.

Virion's treatments use what the company described "as the first genetically encoded checkpoint inhibitor that can be given via vaccination."

Virion's early-stage investors have included Robin Hood Ventures, Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels Group, Keiretsu Capital Fund III, Life Science Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Alliance of Angels, and Crimson Peak.