ASX listed biotech Phylogica has taken another stride towards commercialising its unique intracellular drug delivery platform by expanding its library of disease-combatting genomes.
In a market update this week, the ASX-listed biotech said it had significantly expanded its proprietary “Phylomer library” in the March quarter, improving both the complexity and biodiversity of the repository’s collection of genomes.
The expansion of the genome library is important, the company said, because each new genome added had been optimised for Phylogica’s proprietary cutting-edge “FPP” biological drug transportation technology.
FPP stands for “Functional Penetrating Peptides” which Phylogica has developed to be able to carry large molecules, such as intracellular drug cargos, across cell walls to deposit their potentially disease-defeating payload directly inside a diseased cell.
One of the key advantages of the FPP technology is that it can transport extra large drugs across cells walls that previously were considered too large, rendering that particular condition “undruggable”.
Dr Robert Hayes, Phylogica’s Chief Scientific Officer stated: “Our scientific team has had another productive quarter further validating our FPP platform with the delivery of new cargoes including Cre and Temporin A, and importantly we have also increased the biodiversity of the library to improve our discovery and screening processes.”
Another positive development in the March quarter, Phylogica said, was that its scientists successfully delivered a new “proof of concept cargo” known as “Cre” into kidney cells in the laboratory, potentially paving the way for animal based clinical trials.
Specifically, Phylogica said its team was able to deliver Cre, an enzyme routinely used in biological research, as a “cargo”, directly inside cells using its FPP technology.
In the three months to March, the FPP platform also showed increasing potential to be utilised in the area of superbug antibiotics, especially to assist drugs to combat hard-to-treat bacterial pathogens or superbugs, the company said in the update.
The latest announcement from Phylogica comes after its FPP technology recently managed to stimulate the immune system in mice that were suffering from assisting it to attack and even eradicate tumours from within.
While still in the test tube phase, the ASX junior’s technology has already received backing from big pharmaceutical players, including deals with major pharmaceutical companies that include Genentech, MedImmune, Pfizer and Janssen Biotech.
With the global peptide Therapeutics market estimated at over $25 billion, Phylogica is well placed to continue building momentum with its unique drug delivery system as it moves towards clinical trials in animals.
By Matt Birney
