2023

Mark Levick is the former CEO of Alvotech, a global biopharmaceutical company listed on the US NASDAQ. In addition to building the company’s pipeline, Mark and his team led the approval and commercial launch of Simlandi/Hukyndra in 17 countries. Mark’s expertise was gained through a 25+ year international career leading global research and development groups as Global Head of Development at Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals; Senior Vice President, Global Drug Discovery at Novartis; and Vice-President, Biopharmaceutical Translational Medicine at GSK. Mark oversaw R&D programs that resulted in thirteen drug approvals, including five first-in-class molecules and two approvals arising from successful human proof-of-concept programs. Before joining the industry, Mark was a medical reviewer for the UK and EU medicines regulatory authorities, and a specialist physician- scientist practicing in university hospitals in Australia and the UK. As a researcher at Cambridge University, Mark pioneered the use of reverse genetics to identify novel vaccine targets as well as conducting amongst the earliest in vivo studies using nucleic acid as a novel vaccine platform. Mark has received several awards and authored peer-reviewed papers in the fields of tropical medicine, vaccine immunology and drug development. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA), an affiliate physician with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in the Royal College of Physicians, UK, and an advisor to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Mark holds a Doctor of Medicine from University of Newcastle, Australia and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

“Mark brings an extraordinary breadth and depth of experience in drug development to InterAx at a time when we are preparing to advance our pipeline to clinical trials,” noted Dr. Prior, InterAx CEO. “Mark’s scope of experience extends from early preclinical and translational medicine studies to support first-in-human trials all way to approval and the commercial process,” Dr. Prior added.

“I am very attracted to the InterAx drug discovery platform that deciphers the intracellular language that drives biological responses and applying this understanding to create truly novel therapies,” commented Dr. Levick. “I believe InterAx represents the future of drug development and with the aid of AI integrated into biological, biochemical and pharmacological data, this approach promises to reduce conventional timelines for drug development by years,” Dr. Levick added.

Dr. Rizk, InterAx CSO, added, “Dr. Levick brings a tremendous dimension of experience as we discover and develop small, orally-administered molecules with dual functions for treating diseases in a highly novel manner, starting with our cancer and inflammation programs. We are eager to work with Dr. Levick on our development plans, especially given his knowledge of the use of biomarkers as predictors of halting progression of disease.”

The company, a spin-out from ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, developed an integrated drug discovery process combining biochemical compound screening, cell pathways mathematical modeling, and artificial intelligence based chemical structure to function relationship. This unique approach enables the rapid and precise identification of novel cellular mechanisms to develop differentiated products that stand out for their effectiveness and safety profiles. This platform unlocks previously intractable targets, shortens timelines for drug discovery from years to months and reduces risks.
The company is specialized in G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) drug discovery and covers hit-generation, hit- to-lead and lead optimization for all targets including orphan GPCRs. InterAx has a highly experienced and dedicated team of scientists specialized in AI, mathematical models of signaling pathways, cellular pharmacology and computational chemistry. The company is currently funded by lead institutional investors and a grant from the EU commission and is preparing for the next round of financing to grow its capabilities and advance lead drug candidates.

InterAx will leverage its unique discovery platform and deep understanding of GPCR pharmacology to quantify the complex details of GPCR signalling. The objective is to generate evidence to support an informed understanding of this GPCR as a potential new target for therapeutic intervention and to inform a future Sosei Heptares structure-based drug design program.

Aurélien Rizk, co-founder and CSO of InterAx Biotech, said: “Our work with Sosei Heptares is important for InterAx and validates the power of our technology to provide informative outputs in cell signaling, which can be applied to drug discovery. We believe that the identification of drug leads with highly specific biological responses is key to reducing risk and timelines associated with drug development. We are excited to apply our technology on a GPCR target and disease with an unmet medical need where the pathogenesis of the disease is not well understood. This will open new avenues for providing patients with greater opportunities for both effective and safe treatments.”

Alastair Brown, SVP Translational Medicine at Sosei Heptares, said: “Quantitative pharmacology forms an important part of our approach to understand detailed mechanism of action, identify biomarkers and validate new targets. We have been very impressed by InterAx’s innovative technology to decipher the complex language of cellular signalling with respect to GPCRs. We look forward to seeing what novel insights for drug discovery are generated and how these might increase our understanding of the complex biology on this potential new target.”

About InterAx Biotech AG
The company, a spin-out of ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, uses high throughput biochemical screening of compounds integrated into an artificial intelligence and cell pathways mathematical modeling process. This platform unlocks previously intractable targets, shortens timelines for drug discovery from years to months and reduces risks. The company focuses on the generation and optimization of drugs which trigger a specific and well characterized effect on signaling pathways, thus leading to higher therapeutic efficacy and reduced risk of toxicity. The company is specialized in G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) drug discovery and covers hit-generation, hit-to-lead and lead optimization for all targets including orphan GPCRs. InterAx has a highly experienced and dedicated team of scientists specialized in AI, mathematical models of signaling pathways, cellular pharmacology and computational chemistry. The company is currently funded by lead institutional investors and a grant from the EU commission and is preparing for the next round of financing to grow its capabilities and advance lead drug candidates.