Therapeutic Focus

PanGenetics' primary therapeutic focus is on development of treatments for immune system mediated diseases, cancer and pain. However, as the business model of PanGenetics is driven by opportunistic in-licensing, the company is also interested in developing antibody drugs in other therapeutic indications, where these represent a clear medical need and commercial opportunity.

Immune system mediated diseases

Even though the understanding of the immune system and its regulation has progressed immensely over recent decades, this knowledge has only partly translated into new effective treatments for diseases in which the immune system plays a pivotal role. These diseases include inflammation, infection, cancer and auto-immune disorders. Especially for the latter two, effective treatments that are disease modifying rather than treating symptoms represent an important unsatisfied medical need. In addition to the diseases above, further progress in transplantation medicine is highly dependent on an understanding of and effective management of the immune response.

Unlike traditional areas of pharmaceutical medicine, the management of the immune system cannot be based on the inhibition of single enzymes by small molecules. The regulation of the immune system involves the interaction of receptors with protein ligands, the presentation of peptides to protein complexes, intracellular signaling cascades and other interactions that mainly involve protein-protein interactions. These interactions typically cannot be blocked by small molecules. However, a breakthrough in the quest for effective interference with these interactions was made by the use of antibodies as therapeutic agents. Antibodies are characterised by high binding affinities and high selectivity. By using the immune system’s own weapons as the instruments for therapeutic intervention, a very successful class of biotech drugs was developed, including blockbuster drugs such as Humira®, Rituxan®, Herceptin® and others.

As therapeutic antibodies are predestined to remain the main armory for regulation of disease of the immune system in the future, this category of diseases also represents PanGenetics’ primary therapeutic focus. Specifically PanGenetics’ most advanced product, PG102, holds significant promise for the treatment of several immune system mediated diseases.

Pain

New therapies for the treatment of chronic pain represent a very important medical need. Existing therapies, mainly opioids such as morphine, are often associated with severe side-effects and therefore new therapeutic classes with improved safety and efficacy are needed. A very promising new approach for the treatment of chronic pain is the targeting of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) signaling pathway, for which a key role in the pathophysiology of pain is strongly supported by recent scientific evidence and clinical data. NGF is the prototypical member of the family of neurotrophin growth factors, that are involved in the growth and survival of nervous tissue. NGF levels are increased in inflammatory processes and administration of exogenous NGF leads to hyperalgesia, hypersensitivity to thermal stimulation and muscular pain. These multiple lines of evidence qualify NGF as a very promising target for therapeutic intervention in pain.