Developing Novel Treatments for Immunological Disorders

In order to have my day-to-day life focused more on the science directly, two and a half years ago, I took a big turn in my career by resigning from an executive position in pharma to lead an emerging biotech company. My medical and graduate school training brought me to the biotech industry because I am extremely passionate about harnessing science and innovation to help patients by addressing unmet medical needs.?

There is no doubt that immunological disorders are critical medical issues to tackle. When the immune system attacks healthy cells, tissues, and organs, instead of harmful foreign invaders or cancer, it introduces autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. There are over 80 autoimmune diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (including ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn’s disease, etc.), rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis —all have a deleterious impact on the lives of patients who suffer from them. In addition, for some patients receiving stem cell or bone marrow transplants, the donor immune cells do not recognize the host as?self?and begin attacking, leading to a life-threatening condition called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).?

In the immune system, T cells are essential players. Regulating their function at the right level at the right time is important for immune balance. Chronically activated late-stage T cells can shift the balance of an immune response to attack the body, resulting in the majority of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. AltruBio’s research team was the first to discover that P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) plays a key role as an immune checkpoint protein in regulating late-stage, chronically-activated T cells. With the regulation on the stage of the immune response, instead of systematically suppressing the entire system, it is a truly promising mechanism of action to control T cell-associated immunological diseases and to restore immune balance.??Two and half years ago, I saw an opportunity to make a difference potentially in the lives of millions of patients suffering from immune disorders by working with the research team that has a strong understanding of the regulation of immune responses and assembling a scientific team with biotech veterans who have successful track records of bringing innovation to patients efficiently. It led me to join the company to give it a new life, new structure, and new focus under a new name, AltruBio.

Currently, the standard care of immunological diseases includes anti-inflammatory medications like corticosteroids, immune system suppressors like small molecule Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors and biologics such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. Despite the therapeutic variety, these current therapies also remain ineffective at fully helping patients find the relief they desire and come with increased risk of infection.?The limitations of current therapies lead to the urgency for AltruBio to develop a safe and effective solution for autoimmune diseases.?

AltruBio’s first generation immune checkpoint agonist antibody ALTB-168 is an antibody that enhances immune checkpoint regulator, PSGL-1, to induce cell exhaustion and cell death preferentially in late-stage, chronically activated T cells without affecting resting T cells and early-stage T cells. This is part of the natural T cell life cycle process necessary for balanced immune function. In the immune-oncology landscape, many people know about checkpoint inhibition being leveraged for cancer, where antagonists block mechanisms that tumors co-opt to hide from and re-activate the immune system to attack tumor cells. At AltruBio, we take an innovative approach by taking advantage of enhancing the immune checkpoint regulator PSGL-1 by introducing agonist antibodies as immune checkpoint enhancers (ICEs) to control chronically active immunological responses and to restore immune balance.

AltruBio’s first ICE,?ALTB-168 has shown favorable Phase 2 data compared to standard of care biologics in refractory UC, psoriatic arthritis, and psoriasis patients with a clinically validated mechanism of action. With?ALTB-168’s unique, first-in-class mechanism, it has received Fast Track Designation and Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for SR-aGVHD (steroid-refractory acute GVHD), recognizing it as a therapy with powerful potential to be a safe and effective treatment for patients.?We have recently completed the Phase 1b clinical study of ALTB-168 in patients with SR-aGVHD and are especially looking forward to sharing the promising data at the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference next month.

For small organizations it’s especially crucial to see where we can bring most value to benefit and provide impact to a greater population of patients. Looking at biotech markets, we are starting to see an uptick in new capital entering the space and a surge in mergers and acquisitions due to the current state of the global economy. Therefore, at AltruBio, we will focus our future in-house development on our next-generation PSGL-1 subcutaneous ICE, ALTB-268 and aim to build partnerships to maximize the potential of ALTB-168 in aGVHD. While ALTB-268 will serve as our “pipeline in a product” as it has broad expansion potential across a variety of indications, we believe in the power of partnerships and have been seeking collaborations from likeminded partners with a shared vision to best advance better treatments for patients with immunological diseases.?

Following the ALTB-168 data update at ASH conference in December 2022, we look forward to discussions with potential partners on opportunities to advance this important new treatment through clinical trials.

AltruBio is very passionate about advancing treatment options for immunological conditions without compromising the immune system, to give patients an effective treatment and better quality of life. We’re confident that leveraging ICEs to selectively deplete chronically activated T cells could offer incredible potential to disrupt the treatment landscape, to treat patients suffering from immunological diseases without broad immunosuppression. I am motivated by the opportunity to offer treatment to fundamentally improve the standard of care of immunological and inflammatory diseases through novel therapies like ALTB-168 and ALTB-268.??