Comet has set up shop in Kendall Square with about 10 employees. The company has plans to expand to at least double that amount over the next year as it moves from the preclinical phase to the clinical phase.
With $28.5 million in financing, Cambridge, Mass.-based Comet Therapeutics is emerging from stealth mode with a focus on developing a portfolio of drug candidates that centers around efforts to re-engineer CoEnzyme-A (CoA).
Comet’s CoA platform has numerous potential applications including metabolic disorders, neuro-metabolic diseases, immuno-metabolic conditions and other life-threatening diseases. In an interview with BioSpace, David de Graaf, president and chief executive officer of Comet Therapeutics, said that although the role of CoA in the body has been understood for a long time, no one had really thought to apply that knowledge in a pharmaceutical manner. CoA is known for its role in helping enzymes in the body do the job they were designed to do, including the building of and breaking down of proteins, as well as mitochondrial health and the proper functioning of the TCA cycle, which provides the energy cells need to live.
CoA dysfunctions play a role in many rare, genetic disorders of metabolism. Comet will use its platform to boost the levels of CoEnzyme-A in patients as a way to kick start some of the body’s own natural defenses, such as T Cells. The compounds developed by Comet will replenish key intermediate metabolites in cellular metabolic processes. This will provide the company will a unique ability to modify and treat numerous diseases, such as neurometabolic and immune-metabolic conditions. De Graaf said the company’s molecules can push the immune system into a more restive state or more active state depending on the need.
While keeping targets close to his vest, de Graaf said Comet’s initial focus on diseases will be “where metabolism and neurodegenerative diseases connect,” such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The company’s compounds have the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, which will give Comet a tool to potentially treat neurological conditions. For instance, processes involved in myelination.
Without diving too deeply into the science, de Graaf described the process as providing the body with enough Lego building blocks to enable the metabolic system to do what it needs to do.
“The body will know what to do. The plans for that Lego model are inside the body,” de Graaf said in a telephone interview.
Comet’s Series A financing round was funded by Canaan and Sofinnova Partners. The Series A was also supported by INKEF Capital and new investor BioInnovation Capital. The company believes the funds will be sufficient to support operations into late 2021 or early 2022.
“It’s always good to raise money and start a company,” de Graaf said.
Comet has set up shop in Kendall Square with about 10 employees. The company has plans to expand to at least double that amount over the next year as it moves from the preclinical phase to the clinical phase. If all goes according to plan, de Graaf said the company can move into human trials by 2021.
De Graaf joined the startup Comet after serving as president and CEO of Syntimmune, a clinical-stage antibody company snapped up by Alexion Pharmaceuticals last year for $1.8 billion. In addition to that, de Graaf has also held leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Selventa.
In addition to de Graaf, the Comet leadership team includes Chief Scientific Officer Art Taveras, a Biogen veteran who has led or contributed to more than 40 small-molecule drug discovery and development programs. Also, Comet’s chief technology officer, Enej Juscer, who has worked with multiple startups such as Acies Bio and Whey2Value, has extensive experience with CoA metabolism.
The company also has a veteran board of directors, including its chairman, Peter Van Vlasselaer. Van Vlasselaer has started and overseen development and successful exits of many innovative life science companies, including immuno-oncology focused Armo BioSciences, which Eli Lilly acquired last year for $1.6 billion.
Comet isn’t the only company to launch within the last year with a focus on CoA. Almost one year ago, BridgeBio Pharma launched CoA Therapeutics with a focus on developing novel small-molecules designed to increase Coenzyme-A (CoA) levels in genetic disorders where CoA deficiency is implicated. CoA had plans to enter the clinic this year with a treatment targeting pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration, an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by mutations in the pantothenate kinase 2 gene.
