BALTIMORE– Akers Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKER), with its proposed merger partner MyMD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“MyMD”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company committed to extending healthy lifespan by focusing on developing two therapeutic platforms, today announced new data from a study conducted by Eurofins Discovery Phenotypic Center of Excellence.
MYMD-1 is being developed to treat autoimmune and age-related diseases, including extending the human lifespan, and has been shown to be effective in regulating the immune system in preclinical studies.
The findings of the Eurofins Discovery study indicate the potential of MYMD-1 to limit the fibrotic biology associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Hallmark activities of MYMD-1 included inhibition of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), a driver for fibrosis, and of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), associated with inflammation. This dual pattern of anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory activities are consistent with the potential for MYMD-1 to be developed as a therapeutic candidate for fibrosis-related diseases.
Fibrotic disorders are implicated in nearly 45% of all deaths in the developed world, and may involve multiple physiological systems including the skin, liver, kidney, heart and lungs. In particular, IPF has an insidious, relentless and chronic course, with a median survival of two to five years. Thus there is a great need to develop new and effective therapeutics for treating patients.
“Nearly 100,000 people in the United States have IPF, and although cases continue to climb, there is still a significant unmet need in treatment options for this chronic disease,” said Chris Chapman, M.D., President and Chief Medical Officer of MyMD. “MYMD-1 continues to demonstrate broad utility and capability to inhibit inflammation in preclinical data, which is linked to myriad diseases including IPF. This study stirs hope for those affected by the disease and gives MYMD-1 an additional path forward.”
The study was completed using the BioMAP Phenotypic Screening and Profiling Platform from Eurofins Discovery. This platform addresses the need for translationally relevant, predictive in vitro models of human disease, including fibrosis. The BioMAP Fibrosis Panel models complex human tissue and disease biology driving the aberrant inflammation involved in fibrosis and wound healing, and preserves the complex multicellularity of organs such as the lung and kidney with their cell-cell physical communications and signaling events that occur to influence disease. The panel provided information on MYMD-1 mechanistic signatures, identification of unexpected activities, competitor analysis, guidance on non-cytotoxic concentrations and more.
“The activities in this study immediately caught our attention as they spoke to impacts on fibrosis disease biology that remain an unmet clinical need,” said Alison O’Mahony, Ph.D, Vice President of Translational Biology at Eurofins Discovery. “We have learned over the years from testing both approved fibrosis drugs and failed candidates, that efficacy requires not only anti-fibrotic impacts, but also anti-inflammatory activities. During the study, MYMD-1 inhibited both aspects of fibrosis biology. We were also able to determine well-tolerated treatment concentrations as part of the study.”
“There are many adverse outcomes from inappropriate inflammation and dysregulated wound healing responses, including IPF,” said Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D, Chief Scientific Officer for MyMD Pharmaceuticals. “We selected Eurofins to run the study knowing the credibility and breadth of their platform, and were pleased to see the readouts specifically showed inhibition of disease biology among key biomarkers associated with IPF, especially through Eurofins’ human phenotypic screening platform, allowing us to see patient-specific cell activity.”
MyMD plans to move forward in testing combinations of MyMD-1 with approved fibrosis drugs to determine how the agents interact to impact disease biology of IPF.
