Our focus on Peptide-Based Medicines

We currently focus on gastrointestinal, metabolic and other specialty diseases where we believe that the present standard of care is inadequate and where we believe that we have the resources to advance our peptide-based product candidates into the later stages of clinical development, including registration and, potentially, commercialization, while opportunistically considering partnership relationships that may arise. In addition, we are looking to focus our efforts on drug candidates that may qualify for orphan/rare disease status.

Our research and development, or R&D, organization is structured to enable dynamic collaboration across various functions and project teams at each stage of discovery and development, allowing us to advance promising opportunities quickly and take advantage of our extensive knowledge of peptide design and product development.

Track record of inventing and developing novel peptide-based product candidates

We have a track record of successfully inventing and developing novel peptide-based product candidates. This success is based on our deep understanding of peptide chemistry and extensive experience in improving the therapeutic characteristics of naturally-occurring peptides by modifying and optimizing their structures. The modifications we make are designed to improve upon naturally occurring peptides so that their therapeutic benefit, duration of action, stability and convenience of use favorably compare to other treatment options.

Peptides generally have a number of advantages as drug candidates that can provide specific therapeutic benefits including: high selectivity with effects only on the intended target thereby providing specific therapeutic benefits; lower risks of toxicity with limited, or no, off-target effects; high potency with strong effects even at low concentrations; favorable safety profiles (including fewer side effects) with minimal drug-to-drug interactions, tailored half-lives and binding affinity; and high regulatory approval rates, with approval rates of 20%, as compared to 10% for small molecule medications. Peptides are also smaller than proteins on a molecular level, which can offer potential advantages in terms of therapeutic administration.

Our peptide chemistry and pharmaceutical development expertise is complemented by strong downstream development competencies, including a clinical development team with experience in quality assurance and in regulatory matters. We believe that we have the requisite in-house capabilities to advance product candidates in our selected disease areas from pre-clinical Investigational New Drug, or IND, enabling studies to late-stage clinical development, including registration.

More information: What are peptides?