Virtici, LLC announced today the spin-out of a new drug development company, Rise Therapeutics, which is focused on developing microbiome-based, immunological therapies. To form the spin-out, Rise obtained key microbiome-related intellectual property and technologies incubated at Virtici to support the development of first-in-class, orally-delivered, biological medicines.
With the growing understanding of the microbiome and the processes by which the microbiome modulates the human immune system, Rise Therapeutics is developing the next generation of first-in-class immune-modulating therapies based upon a vast new array of targets. Rise Therapeutics leverages its unique and proprietary TriPartite X (TPX) platform to deliver targeted biologics orally, a novel step forward in the context of protein-based medicines. As a delivery vehicle, TPX is ideally suited to deliver any biological therapy orally and, in the context of Rise’s therapeutics product development interests, targeting immunology of the gut is a key breakthrough that gives Rise a competitive drug development advantage. At present, two product candidates have been selected for clinical testing with the identification and characterization of other possible novel targets underway.
“The microbiome of the gut is a critical immunological ecosystem” says Gary Fanger, President and CEO of Rise Therapeutics. “By understanding how the microbiome influences our immune system via the intestinal tract, we can design appropriate immunological medicines that can treat a variety of diseases including inflammation, autoimmunity and cancer. With our proprietary TPX delivery platform, we can exploit these microbiome discoveries to deliver biological-based medicines orally that target key pathways in the intestinal tract.”
Rise’s proprietary TPX technology is based upon work from the laboratory of Dr. David Pascual, Professor at the University of Florida. The Intellectual property to support the platform and initial therapeutic programs were licensed from the University of Florida and Montana State University. With these novel scientific discoveries, Rise is rapidly moving its first program into clinic development. In addition, Rise is expanding the core foundation technologies and working with its partners in the context of more broadly exploiting TPX to deliver oral biological therapies.
Rise Therapeutics represents another spin-out from the three affiliate companies, Virtici, Celdara Medical, and MBV. With a goal of enhancing industry innovation, Virtici, Celdara Medical, and MBV specialize in identifying and developing novel early-stage innovations from research institutions from across North America and increasingly, beyond. Partnerships and new spin-outs are core to accelerating the value base of the model from these three affiliated companies.