On November 15, 2021 – Antios Therapeutics, Inc. (“Antios”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to treat and cure chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV), announced the agreement to purchase the IP rights to a novel series of fourth-generation capsid assembly modulators (CAMs) discovered and developed jointly by IRBM, Promidis/CNCCS (a subsidiary of IRBM), Istituto Nazionale Genetica Molecolare -INGM and San Raffaele Hospital (OSR). These CAMs enable the selection of a new pipeline candidate, which will be the second molecule in Antios’ HBV portfolio. The total potential value of the deal to the Italian sellers/parties is up to $50 million, in addition to royalties.
Derived from a novel chemical scaffold, the CAMs have shown a strong in vitro and in vivo activity in a transgenic mouse model of HBV infection. Early in vivo data point to a differentiated mechanism of action which prevents accumulation of empty capsids, unlike most CAMs, and potentially provides for a more targeted, productive clearance by the immune system. Pre-clinical candidate selection is anticipated in the first half of 2022 with clinical development beginning in mid-2023.
“Unlike traditional CAMs, which target capsid assembly and disassembly, we believe these molecules may have an additional mechanism of action. Their distinct potential in vivo, along with their pre-clinical activity profile to date, position our candidate selection with best-in-class potential among the field,” said Katherine Squires, PhD, Head of Research and Development at Antios. “These particular CAMs will expand the Antios portfolio of differentiated molecules and offer a unique addition to the development of a potentially curative regimen.”
“We hope that the development of these compounds can bring significant benefit to the 296 million people living with this devastating disease,” said Romano Di Fabio, PhD, Corporate Director of Small Molecule R&D at IRBM, whose team designed and then optimized this novel CAM series. Dr. Di Fabio holds more than 70 international patents.
“This agreement is a tribute to the potential of partnerships between Italian academia and industry experts to develop novel therapies to address unmet clinical need,” said Carlo Toniatti, Chief Scientific Officer of IRBM.
“We are pleased to find a home for this program with an experienced team that recognizes the unique potential of these compounds that, in pre-clinical research, showed differentiation from others in its class,” said Luca Guidotti, MD, PhD, a co-inventor and a pioneering HBV researcher who serves as Deputy Scientific Director at OSR.
“Antios, because of its focus on HBV, is the ideal company to guide this program through clinical trials and advance its journey toward potential commercialization,” said Raffaele De Francesco, PhD, Co-inventor of the novel CAM series and Head of the Virology Laboratory at INGM.
For additional information, please click here: https://www.antiostherapeutics.com/pressreleases/antios-therapeutics-announces-agreement-with-irbm-ingm-and-osr-to-acquire-fourth-generation-hbv-capsid-assembly-modulators-cams/
