Pharma, Startups

Biotech accelerator BioMotiv, NYU unveil a new spinoff for inflammatory disease treatments

A biotech accelerator launched as part of a $250 million drug discovery initiative spearheaded by […]

A biotech accelerator launched as part of a $250 million drug discovery initiative spearheaded by Cleveland’s University Hospitals has spun off its first company to develop promising technology for treating inflammatory diseases.

Orca Pharmaceuticals is the first company announced by BioMotiv, the for-profit accelerator associated with the Harrington Discovery Project at UH. BioMotiv in- licenses promising drug candidates, uses its leadership team to move them into 1b/2a clinical studies and then out-licenses them to drug companies or VC firms. It announced the formation of Orca today in conjunction with New York University, where the technology originated.

The startup will focus its efforts on new treatments for three conditions: psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis (a form of arthritis that primarily affects the spine) and inflammatory bowel disease.

With funding from BioMotiv and NYU’s Innovation Venture Fund, Orca is working toward achieving proof of concept of an orally administered therapeutic for psoriasis in 2016. The announcement today did not disclose the amount of funding Orca raised, but an August filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates the investments totaled $800,000.

The company is located in Oxford UK, where co-founders Michael Hunter and Roy Pettipher will manage the company’s drug discovery and development activities. Hunter, the CEO, most recently managed drug discovery and non-clinical development at the biopharmaceutical company Oxagen Ltd. Pettipher, the chief scientific officer, was involved in anti-inflammatory drug discover at Pfizer, Wellcome Laboratories and Oxagen Ltd. They will both serve on the Orca board with David U’Prichard, Baiju Shah and Tom Facklam of BioMotiv. Hunter could not be reached for comment today.

An inflammatory substance known as interleukin 17 is thought to play an active role in inflammatory diseases, and Orca thinks there is market potential for a therapeutic agent that controls the activity of the T cells that produce it. Meanwhile, though, the agent must retain the desirable function of other T cells that clear infections.

Orca’s scientific founders, Prof. Dan Littman at New York University and Jun Huh at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, think they’ve found that. They discovered that a nuclear hormone receptor called RORyt is instrumental in controlling activation of the T cells that produce IL-17. Further, they demonstrated that small molecule compounds could inhibit RORyt activity in animals with autoimmune disorder.

Bolstered by pricey emerging biologic treatments from Janssen, Abbott Labs, Pfizer and Novartis, the market for psoriasis drugs is estimated to reach more than $7 billion globally by 2020, according to research by Decision Resources.

 [Image credit: stock.xchng]

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