The Bio Report

With the emergence of GLP-1 agonists to treat obesity, there has been growing interest in the use of peptide-based medicines. Protagonist Therapeutics has developed technology that can take these target specific and potent therapies and allow them to be delivered orally. The company has a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson for an oral peptide that blocks the IL-23 receptor that’s in development to treat psoriasis and ulcerative colitis. We spoke to Dinesh Patel, CEO of Protagonist, about the company’s platform technology, the benefits of orally delivered peptide therapies, and where he sees the biggest opportunities for this approach.

About 98 percent of the the human genome consists of non-protein coding regions known as the “dark genome.” Once derided as “junk DNA,” these regions are increasingly understood to play a critical role in the regulation of the genome and offer a novel means of targeting diseases. Haya Therapeutics is exploring long non-coding RNAs as potential therapies to treat a range of diseases. We spoke to Samir Ounzain, co-founder and CEO of Haya, about the dark genome, the potential to use lncRNAs to treat diseases, and its recently announced collaboration with Eli Lily to use Haya’s platform technology to discover therapies for obesity and related metabolic conditions

About 500,000 people suffer from a spinal cord injury each year. Treatments can involve surgical procedures to stabilize the spine and physical rehabilitation, which can have limited benefits. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies that can promote repair and improve function following a spinal cord injury. NervGen Pharma is seeking to change that by developing therapies that allow the nervous system to repair itself. We spoke to Mike Kelly, CEO of NervGen, about the potential for using therapies designed to allow the nervous system to repair itself, how the company’s lead experimental candidate for spinal cord injury works, and why the same approach holds promise in treating a range of neurodegenerative diseases.

SalubrisBio, rather than shy away from complexity, embraces it. The company’s lead experimental therapy is an antibody fusion protein in development for both heart failure and the rare, neurodevelopmental condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We spoke to Sam Murphy, CEO of SalubrisBio, about the challenges of pursuing complex diseases with complex therapies, its pipeline, and how its China-based parent has provided it financial freedom from the vagaries of the capital markets.

The advent of induced pluripotent stem cells, cells that can be coaxed into becoming virtually any type of cell within the body, promised to usher in a new era of regenerative medicine and improved drug discovery. In practice, though, the ability to use these cells to develop desired cell types has proved challenging to do in a predictable way and at scale. Bit.bio, has developed a synthetic biology platform that it says allows it to industrialize this process and produce desired cells in a consistent manner. We spoke to Mark Kotter, founder and CEO of Bit.Bio, about the company’s platform technology, its effort to develop cell therapies, and its growing offering of precision reprogramed human cells for drug development.