Charles Magness, PhD, CEO and President of Kineta.
Charles Magness, PhD, CEO and President of Kineta.

Seattle-based biotech startup Kineta today announced that it won a $4 million federal contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop new immunotherapies against respiratory viral diseases like Ebola, influenza, and others.

Kineta has already developed a novel class of molecules that have inhibited viral pathogens in pre-clinical tests by utilizing one’s own immune system to fight off disease.

The contract awards Kineta $1.4 million for the base period, with an option to exercise an additional $2.5 million over the next 2-to-3 years.

Kineta has raised more than $40 million since it began operating in 2008 and was part of a group that won a $10 million contract from the National Institute of Health last year. The company is also part of a new Seattle-based consortium known as KPI Therapeutics that is supporting Kineta’s efforts to take a pipeline of promising new drugs through clinical trials and bring them to market more efficiently.

Kineta employs nearly 50 people, and recently expanded in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, in part to accommodate more growth. The company was founded by Charless Magness and Shawn Iadonato, who previously sold their Seattle-based biotech company Illumigen Biosciences to Cubist Pharmaceuticals.

There are a handful of other Seattle-based biotech companies also using immunotherapy to fight disease, including Seattle Genetics and Juno Therapeutics, which just reeled in a $1 billion investment from Celgene.

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