JAN 2023

Dr. Christopher Prior is a highly accomplished serial entrepreneur who has built numerous biotechnology companies creating extensive value for the investors and stakeholders. Over the course of his 30+ year career, he has generated more than 25 Investigational New Drugs (INDs) and achieved four product approvals. In addition, he founded, built and sold two companies (Principia, BioRexis) in deal value exceeding $550M. More recently, Dr. Prior successfully took a company public and significantly increased shareholder value by achieving milestones on time and on budget. Dr. Prior has held senior management positions all in product development at Aventis (now Sanofi), Pfizer, Human Genome Sciences (now GSK) and Biogen. Dr. Prior received a B.Sc. (honors) in chemistry from the University of London, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University in New York City and a research fellowship at The Rockefeller Medical Institute.

“InterAx has a unique biosystems approach integrated into artificial intelligence (AI) to decipher cellular response and create novel drugs with high efficacy and safety. I am impressed with the advances the company has made in unlocking new drug targets with improved pharmacology”, Dr. Prior noted. “Developing small orally available cost-effective molecules with same functional effect as peptides, proteins and monoclonal antibodies requiring frequent injections is nothing short of a huge game changer”, added Dr. Prior.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Prior join our team, especially at a time when our platform has discovered a unique chemokine receptor interaction being evaluated in vivo to treat a highly aggressive and difficult to treat form of breast cancer. This validation will take the company into its next stage of development. To our knowledge, no other AI approach to drug discovery addresses both cellular signaling and drug-target interaction, a critical link needed for effective drug discovery. Dr. Prior’s experience in product development and business operations provides a perfect fit with our innovative team of cell biologists and computational scientists”, noted Dr. Aurélien Rizk, InterAx CSO and Co-Founder.

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.