Plakous Therapeutics has received a research grant from Durham-based biotechnology company Altis Biosystems. As part of the $10,000 grant, Plakous will use Altis Biosystem’s technology in its research as it prepares its lead drug for a new investigational drug filing.
A Winston-Salem regenerative medicine company founded in 2016, Plakous has developed a patented biotherapeutics to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is a rare inflammatory gastrointestinal pediatric disease with a 30% mortality rate that causes an estimated $8 billion in overall health care costs annually.
Protego-PD, Plakous’ product, is an orally delivered mix of anti-inflammatory and developmental proteins – made from the post-delivery human placenta – that mimic amniotic fluid.
Founded in 2017, Altis Biosystems is the developer of RepliGut, a technology platform that produces a layer of human intestinal stem or differentiated cells of the small intestine or colon. RepliGut was developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s biomedical engineering department.
“We are excited to partner with Altis Biosystems through their RepliGut Research Funding Initiative," said Michael Berger, Plakous' senior project development engineer. "Altis’ physiologically relevant, primary-cell derived intestinal GI epithelial model is the ideal in vitro evaluation method to increase our research efficiency, while reducing drug development time and costs. Their RepliGut platform and gastrointestinal research expertise will complement our current research efforts related to our upcoming investigational new drug filing for Protego-PD.”
Berger is the recipient of the grant from Altis’ second research funding initiative.
The Durham company’s research funding initiative works to accelerate research for complex diseases by encouraging the use of its RepliGut Planar drug screening platform. The model helps scientists develop safer and more effective drugs through the cellular makeup of the small intestine and colon without the need for animal testing.
“Altis is excited to work with Dr. Berger and Plakous to explore our RepliGut Planar platform to complement their current research efforts related to a potential new drug filing for Protego-PD, Plakous’ orally delivered acellular biotherapeutic for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC),” said Bill Thelin, chief scientific officer at Altis. “This work is an especially exciting opportunity to demonstrate the importance of microphysiologic systems (MPS) in developing strategies for the oral delivery of biologics.”
Plakous Therapeutics announced this summer that it was looking to raise $10 million after winning $60,000 in the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge and receiving a $250,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
In July, CEO Robert Boyce told TBJ that the company has raised about $4.5 million to date, of which approximately $1.8 million is from a National Institute of Health grant.
Protego-PD has received the orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Plakous signed a multi-year, know-how license agreement with Mayo Clinic in 2020.
Boyce said in July that Plakous will move Protego-PD into toxicology studies in 2023 following the completion of manufacturing studies.
