Resolve Therapeutics, University of Washington Spinoff With an Eye on Lupus, Crafts Recession-Era Business Plan

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Resolve Therapeutics, LLC today announced that it has entered into an exclusive license with the University of Washington for certain biologic compounds and technology developed to treat autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The technology was discovered in the laboratories of Dr. Keith Elkon and Dr. Jeffrey Ledbetter of the University of Washington School of Medicine. The compounds are targeted biologic therapies engineered to inhibit the proximal steps in the interferon-alpha cascade, which appears to be chronically activated in lupus patients.

Resolve Therapeutics is focused on advancing its lead compound RSLV-125 through pre-clinical IND enabling safety studies and into early clinical trials in lupus patients. “Drs. Elkon and Ledbetter are internationally recognized scientists in the field of autoimmune diseases, whose efforts have identified RSVL-125 as a promising potential treatment to help patients suffering from lupus, a serious autoimmune disease for which few effective therapies currently exist,” commented James Posada, CEO of Resolve. Upon successful completion of its early clinical trials for RSLV-125, Resolve plans to partner the compound for late-stage clinical development and commercialization with one of the several pharmaceutical companies that have a strategic interest in lupus.

“By partnering with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector to develop new treatments for disease around UW innovations, the UW Center for Commercialization is contributing to an important and exciting dimension of the School of Medicine’s mission to improve health. Resolve Therapeutics will be working diligently toward the mutual goal of helping patients with Lupus,” added Linden Rhoads, Vice Provost for the University of Washington Center for Commercialization.

About the University of Washington Center for Commercialization

UW researchers in hundreds of labs are making extraordinary innovations. As America’s number one federally funded public research university, and number one federally funded public School of Medicine, UW is producing innovations that have the power to change the world — from biofuel alternatives, to more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and brain cancer, to purification technology for drinking water in the developing world. The Center for Commercialization (C4C) is committed to getting these research outcomes into products, services, therapies, diagnostics, and cures to where they can impact millions of people. Since its founding, C4C has helped create more than 240 companies in Washington state and abroad.

About Resolve Therapeutics

Resolve Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company based in Seattle that is dedicated to helping patients with lupus through the development of RSLV-125, its novel targeted biologic therapy. RSLV-125 represents a new approach to inhibiting the production of interferon-alpha at a proximal step in the inflammatory cascade. A multitude of evidence points to interferon-alpha as a critical mediator of the inflammation present in lupus patients. Development efforts in this field are greatly enhanced by the recent clinical validation of a biomarker called the “interferon signature” which tracks the activation level of the interferon pathway in lupus patients. The interferon signature provides a valuable pharmacodynamic endpoint which greatly enhances the early clinical evaluation of drugs acting to inhibit the interferon pathway. RSLV-125 is currently in advanced preclinical development, and Resolve expects to begin human clinical studies with this compound in the near future. For more information please visit the Resolve Therapeutics website at http://www.resolvebio.com.

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