The asset, LYT-100, is an oral compound that has shown anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Only days after announcing it was considering an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq, PureTech Health, based in Boston and listed in the UK, reported it had acquired a small molecule candidate from an unidentified biopharma company. No financial details were disclosed.
The asset, LYT-100, is an oral compound that has shown anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties. In a Phase I clinical trial in healthy volunteers, LYT-100 was well tolerated and showed promising pharmacokinetic properties to allow twice-a-day oral dosing.
Lymphedema is a common lymphatic disease. A chronic condition, it is characterized by severe swelling in various parts of the body, usually in the arms or legs, caused by an accumulation of lymph fluid and inflammation, fibrosis, and fat (adipose) deposits. The most common form, secondary lymphedema, is often caused by cancer treatments or infections that damage the lymph nodes or require the removal of the lymph nodes.
Before 2019, PureTech Health described itself as a science and technology development and commercialization company. As such, it wasn’t exactly a venture fund or an accelerator, but it typically started companies from ground zero, which it initially wholly owned. In that respect, it was something of a biotech startup factory.
But in the last year, the company has stepped away from that model and shifted its focus to its internal pipeline and partnerships with major biopharma players. In April, PureTech signed a research collaboration deal with Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim.
The companies will work to develop novel product candidates using PureTech’s proprietary lymphatic targeting technology for immune modulation. Boehringer paid PureTech $26 million upfront, which includes research support and preclinical milestones. PureTech is eligible to receive more than $200 million in development and sales milestones, as well as royalties on any product sales.
The initial focus will be on an immuno-oncology product candidate selected by Boehringer Ingelheim.
The lymphatic targeting platform is being developed by PureTech’s internal R&D division. It uses the gut’s lipid transport systems to allow oral administration and transport of drug candidates directly through the lymph system and bypass first pass liver metabolism. It delivers the drugs directly to the mesenteric lymph nodes, which, the company says, programs as much as 70% of circulating adaptive immune cells.
PureTech has three platforms focused on the lymphatic system, as well as two immuno-oncology programs, one targeting a subset of T-cells and the other against a macrophage immunosuppression modulator. In 2018, the company entered a deal with Roche to utilize milk-derived exosomes to deliver Roche’s antisense oligonucleotides.
The company has more recently placed a bigger emphasis on pharma partnerships, inking deals with Amgen, Novartis, Shire, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Johnson & Johnson and Roche. In addition to its lymphatic delivery platforms, the company is focused on the microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live in the body and the communication that goes on between the brain, immune system and gut.
“PureTech is committed to developing a long-awaited treatment for the millions of people living with lymphedema,” stated Daphne Zohar, co-founder and chief executive officer of PureTech. “LYT-100 was identified for our internal pipeline through our expertise in the lymphatic system, and it is the first clinical candidate to advance from an ongoing sourcing effort that builds on insights from our team and our network of collaborators and key opinion leaders in the field. We also expect to advance other candidates in pilot clinical studies, and we will progress the ones with the most favorable clinical profile.”
