Memo Therapeutics is entering preclinical development of its first drug candidate. The antibody was isolated from humans for the treatment of BK virus infection after renal transplantation.
Infection with BK virus poses a serious threat to renal transplants and occurs with a frequency of approximately 50%. Currently, there is no approved therapeutic option but to lower immune suppression. Due to the unwanted side effects of this measure there is a high unmet medical need to help transplant recipients keep a fully functional organ for the long term.
Evidence for a protective role of antibodies is provided by the observation in rare patients that a pre-existing neutralizing antibody response correlates with a better clinical outcome.
The nominated antibody of Memo Therapeutics is highly virus neutralizing and has an optimal safety profile due to human origin and known viral target.“We are highly excited to have developed a candidate antibody with such outstanding properties that could change the outcome of renal transplantation and will start preclinical development immediately“, says Karsten Fischer, CEO. Christoph Esslinger, CSO, comments: “Being able to find ultra-rare antibodies from elite controller patients is a key advantage of our technology. We will certainly leverage its ability for other applications in house as well as attract high-profile partnerships with pharmaceutical companies.”
The antibody was isolated from a clinically selected human donor using proprietary microfluidic single-cell cloning and screening technology. Exploiting the power of these technologies Memo Therapeutics engage in antibody discovery across species and indications for proprietary and partnered projects. The current pipeline features programs in infectious diseases and immuno-oncology.
(Press release)
Picture: Kateryna_Kon / Adobe
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