Unlocking inflammation
Treatments for Inflammation
Widespread application for the treatment of chronic diseases
Inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of almost all acute and chronic diseases, and common inflammation pathways underlie these diseases regardless of the tissue affected. Furthermore, inflammation in one organ can have systemic effects and disrupt distant physiologic sites. Inflammation is also an important aspect of healing, playing a key role in resolving disease and promoting restitution of injured tissues. Inflammation therefore is an important therapeutic target for many common chronic diseases that affect a large portion of the population.
In March 2021 Arch announced that it had filed a new provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect new antibody drug candidates that target inflammation in the lungs, liver and kidneys mediated by dipeptidase-1 (DPEP-1).
The new patent filing can potentially lead to novel single domain antibodies or monoclonal antibodies that inhibit DPEP-1 and organ inflammation. These new antibodies create a third class of drug under development at Arch focused on DPEP-1, alongside the current peptide candidates led by LSALT peptide (Metablok) and the small molecule, cilastatin.
Antibody drugs such as these typically display more specific receptor targeting and longer half-life in the bloodstream compared to peptides or small molecules. The development of DPEP-1 targeting antibody drugs provides the Arch platform with another class of therapeutics for diseases involving the lungs, kidneys and liver where inflammation plays a prominent role.
“This new class of antibodies that we are developing at Arch Biopartners strengthens our patent portfolio and broadens our drug platform targeting organ inflammation mediated by DPEP-1,” said Richard Muruve, CEO of Arch Biopartners.
Arch is performing leading edge science to identify inflammatory pathways and molecular targets of the immune system that cause unresolved acute inflammation and promote the development of chronic inflammatory disorders. Diseases under study include chronic kidney disease, chronic heart disease (failure), inflammatory bowel disease and Clostridium difficile colitis (one of the most common and serious types of hospital-acquired infection). Molecular targets identified in disease models are being translated to develop small molecule drugs that block these inflammatory pathways.
