OUVC No. 2 Investment Limited Partnership (the “OUVC No. 2 Fund”), for which Osaka University Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (“OUVC”; Head Office: Suita, Osaka; President and Representative Director: Akira Uotani) serves as the general partner, has made a follow-on investment in RegCell, Inc. (“RegCell”; Head Office: California, USA; President and CEO: Michael V. McCullar, Ph.D., MBA) as part of the company’s Series A financing. With this follow-on investment, the OUVC No. 2 Fund’s total investment in RegCell’s Series A financing amounts to approximately US$3 million.
RegCell is a biotechnology company originating from The University of Osaka and founded on research into regulatory T cells (“Tregs”) conducted by Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi of the Immunology Frontier Research Center at The University of Osaka. Dr. Sakaguchi was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning Tregs and their role in maintaining immune tolerance.
Many existing treatments for autoimmune diseases control disease activity by broadly suppressing immune function. In contrast, RegCell has developed a proprietary epigenetic reprogramming technology that converts disease-causing T cells into stable, highly functional, antigen-specific Tregs, with the goal of restoring durable immune tolerance in patients. The Treg cells generated using this technology, which RegCell refers to as S/F-Epigen Tregs, are designed to restore immune tolerance by selectively controlling disease-relevant immune responses without broadly suppressing normal immune function. This approach has the potential to provide a new therapeutic option across a broad range of autoimmune diseases.
RegCell raised approximately US$44 million in its Series A financing led by Playground Global, with participation from new and existing investors, including OUVC. In addition, RegCell is expected to receive up to approximately JPY 3.4 billion, or approximately US$22 million, in additional support from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (“AMED”). Together with the Series A financing, this represents up to approximately US$66 million in total financing and support.
RegCell plans to use these funds to advance the clinical development of cell therapies for autoimmune diseases using S/F-Epigen Tregs, while also developing its next-generation epigenetic reprogramming technologies and expanding into additional autoimmune disease indications.
OUVC looks forward to supporting RegCell in bringing innovative cell therapies based on world-class research originating at The University of Osaka to patients and providing new treatment options for autoimmune diseases. OUVC will continue to support the company’s clinical development and global business growth through both financial investment and broader hands-on support.