$178 million boost! Targeting multiple druggable targets, the cutting-edge development of "first-in-class" peptide therapy

On November 21, FogPharma announced the completion of a $178 million Series D funding round to advance its pipeline of first-in-class spiral peptide therapies targeting key cancer drivers
.
ARCH Venture Partners, VenBio Partners, GV and others participated in this round of financing
.

The proceeds will be used to advance and accelerate FogPharma's ultra-stable α-helicon™ peptide therapy, a first-of-its-kind inhibitor targeting the β-catenin/T cytokine (TCF) pathway with potential applicability to important cancer patient populations and expected to enter clinical development
in mid-2023 。 In addition, FogPharma is advancing other first-in-class projects targeting biologically validated cancer targets such as TEAD, NRAS, Pan-KRAS, ERG and Cyclin E1), including targets previously considered undruggable
.

Massachusetts-based FogPharma is owned by Harvard scientist, entrepreneur and investor Gregory Dr.
Verdine founded to pioneer novel medicines that address the limitations of today's precision medicines and achieve full druggability
.

The α-helix in proteins is essential for mediating their interactions with other proteins, and can also confer unique characteristics on proteins, such as the ability to
embed themselves in cell membranes.
FogPharma developed Helicon™ peptides based on this α-helix and used an innovative discovery engine to discover new therapies
against some of the hard-to-drug target proteins.
Heliicon peptides combine the cellular permeability of traditional small molecule drugs, selectivity for oral administration, and the high specificity and broad target accessibility of monoclonal antibody drugs
.

FogPharma's approach is not only designed to discover novel peptide therapies targeting the most elusive disease targets, but also to significantly accelerate the speed and scalability
of drug discovery compared to many of today's standard processes.
The company's multiple tandem discovery engine integrates many cutting-edge technologies such as directed evolution, superstable chemistry of α-helix conformation, highly multiplex drug optimization techniques, analytical and predictive data science (including machine learning and deep learning), and structure-based drug discovery
.
Using a tandem discovery engine, FogPharma scientists were able to design, synthesize and evaluate thousands of new spirochetes each week in biochemical and cell-based assays, turning early hits into leads in a matter of months
.

Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has been shown to occur in
at least 20% of human cancers.
FOG-001 in the FogPharma pipeline inhibits the β-catenin/TCF pathway, and in biochemical and cellular studies, FOG-001 has been shown to efficiently, precisely, and selectively disrupt the interaction
of β-catenin with its transcription factor TCF.
Preclinical studies have shown that FOG-001 is able to induce tumor growth inhibition and regression
by disrupting β-catenin-dependent signaling.
FogPharma plans to submit an IND application for FOG-001 to the FDA and initiate clinical development
by mid-2023.

FogPharma overall pipeline (Source: FogPharma official website)

Gregory, Founder, Chairman and CEO of FogPharma Dr.
Verdine said, "FogPharma will continue to move fast forward
in achieving its mission of full druggability.
We believe Helicon peptides are a new therapeutic modality that represents the future of
precision medicine.
We will continue to build on our platform capabilities and pipeline that addresses a significant portion of the cancer patient population
.
Our goal is to create one of
the most impactful novel drug classes in history.
”

English: _mstmutation="1" _msthash="220727" _msttexthash="2606149">English: