The category of most cancers therapies often called antibody drug conjugates confirmed poisonous drug payloads will be delivered to tumors in a focused means. The primary ADCs delivered chemotherapy, however the area can be testing different payloads. Firefly Bio, a Versant Ventures-backed startup, is now out of stealth with $94 million, becoming a member of a rising cohort of firms working to broaden the ADC area.
An ADC is modular, comprised of a focusing on antibody and a drug payload which can be hitched collectively by a chemical linker. The ADCs at the moment accessible and plenty of extra which can be in improvement make use of chemo because the drug payload. South San Francisco-based Firefly is providing an ADC with a twist. Its therapies carry drug payloads that work by degrading a disease-causing protein. This new forms of ADC known as a degrader antibody conjugate, or DAC.
Firefly goals to beat a few of the limitations of conventional ADCs. The highly effective cancer-killing capability of an ADC’s chemo drug payload means the remedy has a restricted therapeutic index, the dose vary that balances security and efficacy, the corporate stated. Additionally, ADCs lack the flexibility to handle particular proteins inside a cell. In the meantime, protein degraders can selectively tackle protein targets inside a cell, eliminating them. However Firefly notes that one limitation of degraders is their bioavailability, or how a lot of a drug is offered within the physique’s circulation to supply a therapeutic impact. Degraders additionally do not need the flexibility for cell-specific focusing on.
By combining an ADC with a degrader, Firefly goals to beat the restrictions of every modality. The startup employs a proprietary linker expertise referred to as Firelink that it says decreases how a lot of the drug payload goes into the circulation, the place it may be picked up by wholesome tissue. Consequently, a Firefly remedy requires a decrease dose to attain optimum efficacy. In keeping with the corporate, preclinical analysis in each stable and liquid tumors confirmed a single administration of a Firefly DAC led to “vital reductions in tumor quantity at very low doses.”
“DACs are a brand new modality for most cancers,” Firefly CEO Scott Hirsch stated in a ready assertion. “They provide us the flexibility to hit biologically validated targets with minimal collateral harm. Our platform allows DACs at scale and vastly expands the variety of payloads for ADCs.”
In a report issued earlier this month, Leerink Companions analyst Christopher Liu stated that regardless of the focusing on capability of the antibody part of an ADC, these medication are recognized for toxicities. DACs might be safer than ADCs whereas nonetheless being efficacious. He added that this rising class of medicine is drawing curiosity from some bigger pharma firms, which see them as a solution to broaden past conventional ADCs.
Final September, protein degrader developer Nurix Therapeutics struck up a analysis alliance with ADC-specialist Seagen, now a a part of Pfizer. The targets of the collaboration weren’t disclosed. Final November, Bristol Myers Squibb paid $100 million up entrance to amass an Orum Therapeutics DAC candidate prepared for Part 1 testing in blood cancers. In December, Merck entered DAC R&D via an alliance with C4 Therapeutics. The most cancers goal of this alliance stays undisclosed. The businesses stated the pact might broaden to further targets.
Firefly’s Sequence A spherical was co-led by Versant and MPM BioImpact. Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly additionally joined the financing. Firefly has not disclosed the targets of its analysis. Within the financing announcement, Jeral Davis, managing director at Versant and a Firefly board member, stated the startup is discovering DACs to be used in oncology and immunology.
Firefly was incubated at Ridgeline Discovery Engine, Versant’s startup creation entity in Switzerland. There the corporate stated it established proof-of-concept for its lead asset. Firefly has not provided any timelines for reaching scientific testing with this asset.
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