Matrubials Inc. is the winner in the Biopharma category of this year's Sacramento Region Innovation Awards. Tesio Pharmaceuticals is the runner-up.
Matrubials Inc. is using milk that has nourished infants throughout human history to try to cure diseases that affect people of all ages today.
The company spun out from the Foods for Health Institute at the University of California Davis, where associate director Ishita Shah has spent the last eight years researching the components of human breast milk.
“These are very specific components that are present in human milk that have protective effects and can be translated into anti-infective therapeutics that can benefit human health,” said Shah, CEO of Matrubials. “Our primary focus right now is diverting them into topical applications, with the idea of reducing the burden of infectious diseases for women.”
Shah and her co-founders discovered a group of antimicrobial peptides in human milk that are selective — only killing harmful bacteria, and leaving helpful bacteria intact. And they work very quickly.
“That makes them very attractive because unlike routine antibiotics, peptides are unlikely to get resistance development,” Shah said.
For its first product, the company is working on developing a topical treatment for bacterial vaginosis, a widespread gynecological condition that can lead to chronic urinary tract and yeast infections, higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive harm.
“The umbrella of implications associated with B.V., they impact one in three women globally, and that amounts to 1 billion women globally every single year,” Shah said.
She said the current treatment for the condition is one of two antibiotics that were discovered in the 1960s, so the infectious bacteria has grown highly resistant to treatment, and recurrence is common.
“We come from the milk bioactive program at UC Davis, where infant health and maternal health have been of primary importance,” Shah said. However, their peptides can also eventually be used as a replacement for current antibiotics for a number of skin and soft tissue infections.
The company is about a third of the way through a $1.5 million seed funding round, which was kickstarted by Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator. It’s also a part of the Sacramento Growth Factory and the FourthWave accelerator.
It is working out of Inventopia in Davis and the UC Davis campus. Shah has transitioned to working at the company full time. The other three co-founders are all UC Davis faculty.
She estimates the company should be able to start on product development and regulatory approvals within 18 months.
“We have in-vitro proof of concept that these peptides are functional and that they are safe,” Shah said. “What we are doing next is testing those same things in robust animal model studies.”
After those studies are complete, the company can begin developing the product. Shah said at that point, they will be able to decide to release the product as an over-the-counter application, or as a prescription drug — which will take longer and require more regulatory approvals.
“At this stage of the company that we are at, all of those routes are open,” Shah said.
The Essentials
Matrubials Inc.
What it does: Develops therapies from human breast milk to treat bacterial infections
CEO: Ishita M. Shah
Founders: J. Bruce German, David Mills, Carlito Lebrilla
Headquarters: Davis
Revenue: Pre-revenue
Runner-up: Tesio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Innovation: New anti-inflammatory therapeutics to combat arthritis. Tesio is developing anti-inflammatory products that target the main checkpoint for inflammation pathways. Its long-acting injections have the potential to provide relief without steroid side-effects. The lead indication for Tesio's product is osteoarthritis, the nation’s most common cause of disability.
Headquarters: Davis. The company started with research by faculty at University of California Davis.
Top executives: John Patton, CEO and chairman; Dominik Haudenschild, co-founder and chief science officer; Jasper Yik, co-founder and director
Employees: 15 total; two in the Sacramento area
Revenue: None to date. The company is supported by research and development grants from the U.S. Department of Defense.
