Startups 

Millions of people worldwide suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially in developed countries where this condition affects 0.5 – 1% of the population. Yet, there is no cure or preventative treatment for this debilitating disease. Instead, patients rely on the lifelong use of symptomatic drug therapies with serious side-effects such as systemic immune suppression with higher risks of infections and cancer. 

As a consequence, RA still poses a significant societal burden. Despite standard of care, 20-30% of newly diagnosed patients, often 40-50 years old, are rendered permanently work disabled within 3 years after disease onset. Even if the condition is well managed with drugs the daily need to use medication is a constant reminder of poor health, impacting quality of life. 

Founded in 2025 as a spin-off from Utrecht University, TOLVAC Therapeutics seeks to liberate RA patients of the need for chronic immunosuppressive medication by, for the first time, providing a potential cure for the disease. Our solution targets the root cause of RA, rather than merely treating its symptoms.  

At the basis of our lead product TVT-001 lies a proprietary tolerogenic vaccine technology. This invokes long-lasting immune tolerance by inducing regulatory T cells that are specific for a disease-relevant antigen.  The regulatory T cells home to the lymph nodes and sites of inflammation where they specifically stop the autoimmune response without affecting immune defense against pathogens or cancer. We have already demonstrated pre-clinical proof of concept in relevant models. Two administrations of our therapy completely halted arthritis progression and resolved inflammation, even during active disease.  

TOLVAC currently focusses on the pre-clinical development of TVT-001.