Paris-headquartered company Smart Immune gets $5 mln investment from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

April 17 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp:

* FRENCH COMPANY SMART IMMUNE SAS SAYS IT HAS GOT A $5 MILLION EQUITY INVESTMENT FROM BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

* FRENCH COMPANY SMART IMMUNE: THIS NEW INVESTMENT WILL HELP ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTCELL, A PROPRIETARY T-CELL THERAPY PLATFORM TO TREAT CANCER AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE.

* SMART IMMUNE: INVESTMENT FROM GATES FOUNDATION WILL HELP ADVANCE A NEW PHASE I/II CLINICAL TRIAL IN ADULT ACUTE LEUKEMIA PATIENTS OF SMART IMMUNE’S LEAD ASSET, SMART 101

* Smart Immune’s partners include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Greater Paris University Hospitals (AP-HP). The company is headquartered in Paris, France. Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)