Empowered Patient Podcast Targeting Inflammation and Cancer with Innovative Peptide Therapies with Haitham Ayad SPIMA Therapeutics
Haitham Ayad, CEO of SPIMA Therapeutics, has secured a global licensing agreement for its lead peptide-based immunotherapy candidate, which targets the Myddosome complex involved in inflammation. This approach aims to target undruggable protein-protein interactions, leveraging the advantages of peptides over small molecules and antibodies. In addition to inflammatory diseases like acute pancreatitis, SPIMA is also exploring the potential in certain cancers with mutations in the Myddosome complex.
Haitham explains, "In fact, what happened is that the four scientific co-founders worked together for long years to develop and to bring them to the clinical phase and to secure a global patent for that. So, at one point, the technology transfer office of the university, which is called SATT, decided that it was the appropriate moment to create a spin-off of the company so that the company could continue the work and take the lead candidate further to the clinical phase. And I joined at that point as a co-founder and CEO, immediately after the legal creation and incorporation of SPIMA, we signed a global licensing agreement with SATT to secure the rights of the lead candidate globally. At the same time, we were accepted in the incubator of the University, which is called the TTM factory. So we're happy to continue working with that set and the university to progress the lead toward the clinical phase."
"It's known that more than 80% of drug targets consist of interactions between proteins, which take place inside the cells. So this is a big challenge for drugs because small molecules, small chemical molecules that can go inside the cells, are not very specific enough to inhibit this interaction between two big proteins. On the other hand, large molecules like antibodies have good specificity to inhibit such interaction, but they are too large to go inside the cells. This is the sweet spot of SPIMA Therapeutics because the Stapled peptides have the advantage of each category. They have very good cell penetration and good stability. So, it's allowed them to go inside the cell, and at the same time, they have enough specificity to block this interaction between the two proteins. This is where we choose our target, the Myddosome complex, which is the interaction between several proteins involved in the inflammation process."
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