Innate lymphoid cells are immune cells that sit in the body's tissues and help control inflammation and repair. LiMM Therapeutics, founded in 2018 on research by the immunologist Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, set out to develop drugs, which it called "NRILs", that act on the signals nerves use to steer these cells. The EIC selected its PILCKY project, aimed at kidney disease, in the October 2021 round.
No PILCKY grant project appears in the EU's CORDIS database, so what, if anything, the EIC paid out cannot be checked. What the French official gazette does show is the end of the company: judicial liquidation opened in October 2023, and in October 2025 the liquidation closed for insufficient assets and LiMM was struck off the register, according to the BODACC notices.
Company file
- Legal entity
- LiMM Therapeutics SA, SIREN 842668907, last seat Les Ulis, France
- Registered
- September 2018, Paris; subsidiary in Portugal
- Founder
- Henrique Veiga-Fernandes
- Approach
- NRILs, neuronal reprogrammers of innate lymphocytes
- Investors
- Seventure Partners, 200M Co-investment Fund (PME Investimentos), Portugal Ventures
- Status
- Liquidation closed for insufficient assets; struck off, October 2025
- EIC project
- PILCKY; no grant project on CORDIS
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
What Happened to LiMM
According to the BODACC, France's official gazette of company notices, the Évry commercial court opened LiMM's judicial liquidation on 30 October 2023, dating its insolvency to 23 September 2023. The statement of creditors' claims was filed in July 2024. On 23 October 2025 the court closed the liquidation "pour insuffisance d'actif", meaning there were not enough assets to pay the creditors, and the company was struck off. Its website, limmtx.com, no longer loads. The French company register lists it as closed.
The Science: Nerves Talking to Immune Cells
An archived copy of LiMM's website from August 2023 describes its science: innate lymphoid cells regulate "inflammation, tissue repair, metabolic homeostasis, and defense against infection", and research by its founder revealed "a complex multidirectional system of cross-talk between neuronal and immune cells". LiMM cited two Nature papers from his laboratory, from 2016 and 2017, as the basis of its platform, and aimed at "inflammatory, infectious and metabolic diseases".
"Decoding the language of the neuroimmune cross-talk."
LiMM Therapeutics website, archived August 2023What the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows
The EIC's award data describe PILCKY as "harnessing the therapeutic potential of innate lymphoid cells to prevent and treat kidney-related diseases". The award was blended finance. We searched the CORDIS Horizon Europe data and found no project under that acronym or with LiMM as coordinator. The archived website, from August 2023, names EU regional funds from Portugal's Centro 2020 and Lisboa 2020 programmes but not the EIC. Whether a grant agreement was signed, and how much was paid, is not public.
- A signed EIC projectNot shownNot on CORDIS.
- Kidney disease drug candidatesNot shownNo results published.
- Clinical developmentMissedNo trial; company liquidated.
- A company that continuesMissedStruck off, 2025.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
LiMM's archived website named Seventure Partners, the Portuguese 200M Co-investment Fund managed by PME Investimentos, and Portugal Ventures as investors. We found no EIC Fund investment. The register data include no published accounts.
What cannot be checked
Whether the EIC signed a grant with LiMM or invested, how much was paid out and what was recovered in the liquidation are not public. The EU should say what happened to this award.
Why Europe Should Care
LiMM was a Franco-Portuguese company built on research published in Nature, and the EIC chose it. Within two years it was insolvent, and its award left no trace in the EU's project records. When an EIC-selected company fails before any project is reported, the public should still be told whether money was spent.
What the project promised
Therapies harnessing innate lymphoid cells to prevent and treat kidney disease.
What the record shows
No EIC project on CORDIS, liquidation in 2023 and deletion from the register in 2025.
The Verdict
Selected, then gone
LiMM had strong science and established investors, and the EIC picked it. But it became insolvent less than two years after the selection, and its liquidation ended with too few assets to pay creditors. The public record does not show whether the EU's money ever reached it.
LiMM Therapeutics no longer exists and could not be asked for comment. This article is based on French official notices, EU data and an archived copy of the company's website, linked throughout.
