InterAx Biotech unveils breakthroughs by identifying novel cellular modes of action unlocking the rational design of superior drugs for multiple indications.
Zurich, Switzerland – February 13th 2024
InterAx Biotech AG, a product development company pioneering computational pharmacology for drug discovery, announces that the Company’s most advanced Artificial Intelligence platform has uncovered novel cellular signaling modes of action which enable InterAx to design efficacious orally available drugs for diabetes, obesity, and immuno oncology. Particularly promising results are coming from the development of a potential oral alternative to Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for metabolic disorders and weight loss.
The InterAx approach, together with the latest results on the immune oncology program, will be presented as invited speakers at the 3rd Annual GPCRs-Targeted Drug Discovery Summit to be held on March 5-7 in Boston, MA. Dr. Aurelien Rizk, Chief Scientific Officer, will present on March 5th, 2024, followed by Dr. Prior, CEO, participating in an expert panel to address applications of AI in drug discovery.
InterAx metabolic programs follow the same development path as the proprietary immune oncology program, where InterAx technology discovered a small molecule for a peptide receptor with novel and previously unexploited cellular mechanism to treat aggressive types of cancer. In brief, the lead compound in the IAX25-Series reverses one of the key mechanisms that tumors exploit to evade the immune system by restoring the intra-tumoral levels of cytokines. This triggers a statistically significant recruitment of a broad spectrum of cancer killing cells that correlates with tumor regression in preclinical studies. This mode of action is different but complementary to immunotherapy (anti PD-1s), allowing a broad range of cancer killing immune cells to penetrate and treat cold tumors. This opens the door to improve and expand the use of immunotherapies and other anti-cancer therapies where lack of tumor penetration is limiting efficacy. The elevation of cytokines provides an ideal biomarker and together with the apparent lack of direct cytotoxicity, this could facilitate a fast- track breakthrough regulatory designation.
Dr. Prior noted “InterAx is at the cutting edge of exploiting computational rational design of small oral molecules cutting years from the development timelines compared to high throughput drug screening approaches. While our mission is to provide safer and more efficacious drugs to patients, the commercial opportunity for replacing injectable peptides with oral drugs to treat diabetes and obesity is significant coupled with generation of new intellectual property.”
Dr. Aurélien added “We are obviously very excited regarding the significant potential of our lead programs. In oncology our mission is to greatly expand the benefits of immunotherapy in general without adding further side effects as most treatments involve combination therapy, and this is an important consideration. The uniqueness of the InterAx technology is the ability to identify novel cellular mode of action which allows to create a diversified pipeline of superior treatments, also supported by a prestigious grant from the EU commission.”
InterAx Biotech AG
The company, a spin-out from ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, has developed a unique drug discovery platform integrating biochemistry, cell pathways mathematical modelling and Artificial Intelligence to decode the cellular communication language. This novel approach enables the rapid and precise identification of novel cellular signaling mechanisms to develop differentiated products that stand out for their effectiveness and safety profiles. This is crucial to develop treatments for unmet medical needs like cancer, inflammation, metabolic and neurological diseases.
InterAx has also successfully partnered with several pharmaceutical companies. Led by seasoned pharmaceutical executives with broad experience in a variety of indications and highly accomplished serial entrepreneurs, the InterAx team comprises experienced and dedicated scientists specialized in AI, mathematical modeling of biological processes, cellular pharmacology and computational chemistry.
