- Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC) is dedicating additional resources to its SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor program
- The program was deprioritized with highly efficacious vaccines entering the market and the hope that the COVID pandemic could be controlled
- With the belief that SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be an endemic virus with new variants eluding vaccines, APTI is planning to reallocate resources toward the development of SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors
- APTI has engaged Dr. Michael Angelastro, a scientist with more than 30 years in big pharma
- Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corp is a biotechnology company
- Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC) opened trading at C$0.32 per share
Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC) is dedicating additional resources to its SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor program.
APTI’s scientists identified multiple compounds with high predicted affinity for the main SARS-CoV-2 protease by in silico modelling and synthetic efforts and preliminary testing were initiated.
In the fall of 2020, the program was deprioritized with highly efficacious vaccines entering the market and the promise that the COVID pandemic could be controlled.
As the pandemic continues on and the reality that SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be an endemic virus with new variants that elude current vaccines, APTI is planning to reallocate resources toward the development of SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease is expected to be highly conserved as the virus evolves and is therefore an optimal therapeutic target.
APTI has engaged Dr. Michael Angelastro to advise on this project. Dr. Angelastro has spent over 30 years in big pharma at Sanofi and its legacy companies reaching the role of Senior Principal Scientist. Over his career, he synthesized multiple clinical candidates including cysteine and serine protease inhibitors. Cysteine protease inhibitors that he synthesized have been hits on prior screens for the SARS-CoV-2 protease.
The first step in revisiting the program will be confirming previous hits and running an expanded screen utilizing more powerful modelling software. This will be followed by synthesizing additional compounds and testing activity on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease before proceeding with testing on a live virus.
Dr. Benjamin Krantz, CEO of APTI, said,
“The dynamics of COVID pandemic have made it clear that SARS-CoV-2 variants will be staying with us and in time new variants will arise. Especially in the face of vaccine hesitancy and the potential for diminishing efficacy of vaccines, a therapeutic against a conserved target like the SARS-CoV-2 main protease is in great need. Therefore, now is the time to rededicate resources to this project. We have already identified hits with our prior modeling efforts, and we are excited to use more powerful tools to further validate our approach. Additionally, the engagement of Dr. Michael Angelastro as an advisor on this project will bring decades of synthetic chemistry expertise in this space and valuable insight into the project.”
Dr. Michael Angelastro commented,
“I am excited to be working with Advanced Proteome on this project. The approach that APT is taking has the ability to generate protease inhibitors with significantly improved activity and pharmacokinetics compared to typical small molecule approaches. I plan to apply the lessons learned from my 30 years of experience with the optimization of pharmacological properties to the structures identified by APT computer-aided drug design. The modeling to date has yielded molecules with strong predicted activity and the general approach has potential therapeutic applications beyond the SARS-CoV-2 protease. I am looking forward to contributing to the development of a platform which will be able to rapidly deliver analogs of the APT pharmacophore to inhibit protease targets of the future with a focus on viral proteases.”
Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation, through its subsidiary, Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Inc., has invented proprietary protein conjugation technology which enables the development of superior antibody-drug conjugates through improved site-specific labelling, drug-antibody ratio control and enabling of combination payloads.
The company believes that the technology will enable the development of safer and more potent antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics and is pursuing licensing and partnership opportunities to advance development and create shareholder value.
Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC) opened trading at C$0.32 per share.
