ASTRA Therapeutics receives funding to develop anti-parasite drugs

Parasitic diseases like malaria, cryptosporidiosis, and toxoplasmosis affect millions of people worldwide; they also represent a major cause of disease and production loss in livestock and agriculture. Yet, emergent drug resistances and the costliness, inefficiency, and high failure rate of current drug development processes hamper the effective treatment of such diseases.

Through its technology, ASTRA Therapeutics is introducing a new approach to fighting a broad range of parasites with precision-engineered drugs. Founded in 2019, the startup has developed and patented so-called Parabulins®, species-specific parasite inhibitors that target a key protein in all living cells and can be used to fight various types of parasites that cause diseases in humans, animals, and crops. Parabulins® have a very large scope, with more than 30 targetable parasitic diseases. With its innovative technology, the startup addresses a pain point in the drug development process for parasitology pharmaceuticals, making it a very attractive partner for drug development collaborations and drug in-licensing.

Its success is rooted in its unique approach to anti-parasitic drug discovery: the disruption of tubulin. Tubulin plays a crucial role in cell division, as it organizes into microtubule filaments, helping to separate and distribute chromosomes to two daughter cells; interfering with tubulin’s function can thus trigger cell death. ASTRA Therapeutics perfected its technology to exploit the subtle differences between tubulin in parasitic pathogens and hosts, enabling the design of species-specific inhibitors to target parasites’ cells.

The startup targets the human and animal health and herbicide markets, aiming for partnership-based models for the latter two. The total market size is estimated to be worth USD 22 billion.

ASTRA Therapeutics will invest the Venture Kick funds in generating a panel of additional patented Parabulins® effective against economically relevant diseases and make its first investments in R&D infrastructure.

The co-founded Natacha Gaillard and Ashwani Sharma (co-CEOs) are experts in structural biology and have been researching infectious diseases and parasite-host interaction at the Paul Scherrer Institute with the aim of identifying new putative targets for drug development. “Thanks to Venture Kick’s early support, training, and trust, we could go from an idea to a successful startup launch,” stated Gaillard and Sharma.

(Press release/RAN)
Photo: Ashwani Sharma and Natacha Gaillard