In a world first, Immusoft gives engineered B cell in a clinical trial, starting new phase of 15-year odyssey

Immusoft has administered an engineered B cell to a human for the first time, marking a milestone in its long-running quest to create a new type of medicine.

The West Coast biotech set up shop in 2009 and made headlines five years later when it received money from Tim Draper, a venture capitalist involved with companies from Hotmail to SpaceX, and Peter Thiel’s FF Science. But progress has been slower than hoped. In 2013, then-CEO Matthew Scholz spoke of skipping primate testing and going “directly into humans ... in the next couple of years, hopefully.”