Boulevard Bio, a newly formed biotechnology company co-founded by Georg Schett, a pioneering researcher in autoimmune diseases, officially launched on Wednesday with $65 million in funding and a pipeline of three experimental drug candidates.

One of those medicines has already entered early-stage clinical testing. Designated BLVD-101, the drug is a bispecific antibody engineered to target a pair of biological pathways known to drive the progressive kidney condition IgA nephropathy (IgAN).

IgAN has become a focal point for drug developers in recent years. Over the past 12 months, U.S. regulators have approved two therapies for the disease: Vera Therapeutics' Trutakna and Otsuka Pharmaceutical's Voyxact. A third candidate from Vertex Pharmaceuticals may also receive approval in the future.

BLVD-101 operates through a mechanism similar to the medicines developed by Vera and Vertex. It targets the cytokines BAFF and APRIL, which accelerate the production of autoantibodies that mistakenly attack kidney tissue in IgAN. Existing therapies for this condition require weekly or monthly dosing. In contrast, BLVD-101 could potentially be administered once every 12 weeks, potentially relieving patients "of the tremendous burden that they carry in autoimmune diseases," according to Boulevard CEO Mahesh Karande.

A second candidate, BLVD-201, is a trispecific medicine designed to direct T cells toward two proteins, CD19 and BCMA, located on the surface of B cells. Boulevard licensed the drug in June from METiS TechBio, a China-based drug developer, for $20 million upfront and potential future milestone payments of up to $1.6 billion. A third candidate targets an unspecified "novel target combination," according to a company statement. Both of these programs are in preclinical development and are being advanced for autoimmune conditions associated with dysfunctional B cells.

By focusing on B cell-driven diseases, Boulevard is building on scientific advances that co-founder Schett helped pioneer. Alongside a team of fellow researchers, Schett discovered that cell therapies originally developed to attack cancer might be able to "reset" the immune systems of patients with various immune diseases by eliminating errant B cells. Their findings triggered a wave of investments in autoimmune cell therapies and, increasingly since then, multi-pronged antibody drugs designed for the same purpose.

Like other companies developing B cell-depleting antibodies for autoimmune diseases, Boulevard is pursuing a more practical alternative to cell therapies, which are complex to manufacture and typically require a chemotherapy conditioning step before administration.

"At the end of the day, it's about a patient's quality of life," Karande said.

Karande also believes BLVD-201 could have an advantage over bispecific counterparts due to its triple-acting mechanism, which may allow the drug to penetrate tissue more deeply and deliver a stronger effect at a lower dose, he said.

Boulevard faces significant competition. Companies such as Sanofi, Gilead Sciences, and UCB have licensed or acquired bispecific drugs in large transactions over the past year or so. However, Karande views those deals as validation of the approach's potential in treating autoimmune diseases.

"Our initial data are proving our hypothesis at this stage, and if you take that forward, a drug like this has so much applicability," he said.

Working alongside Karande and Schett is Frank Nestle, former chief scientific officer of Sanofi. Nestle serves as a scientific co-founder of Boulevard and is a partner at Deerfield Management, the startup's founding investor. He also leads Deerfield Discovery and Development, the venture fund's R&D engine and biotech incubator.