NIMML Institute’s TITAN-X A.I.-Powered Precision Medicine Platform Validated through AbbVie’s Acquisition of Landos Biopharma and Lead Clinical Candidate NX-13
NIMML founders Dr. Bassaganya-Riera, Dr. Hontecillas, and scientific director
NIMML’s TITAN-X, an A.I. powered precision medicine platform, has also guided the target discovery and biomarker-driven development of first and best in class LANCL2 agonists, including omilancor, in Phase 3 development as a once daily, gut-restricted oral therapeutic in Ulcerative Colitis by NImmune Biopharma.
Novel scientific discoveries made by the
“NIMML’s TITAN-X Precision Medicine platform and its advanced A.I. and computational modeling capabilities were instrumental for the characterization of NLRX1 as a therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases and the development of NX-13. The acquisition of
Drs. Bassaganya-Riera, Hontecillas and Leber were the sole inventors of NX-13 and first designed the small molecule to target NLRX1 in 2017. After discovery, the three accelerated the de-risking of NX-13 preclinically, including translational target engagement and multiple mouse models (published in the
In addition to Landos Biopharma, Dr. Bassaganya-Riera founded NImmune Biopharma (“NImmune”) with the purpose to advance the clinical development of the LANCL2 portfolio of immunoregulatory precision medicines. NImmune is led by Dr. Bassaganya-Riera as the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Hontecillas as the Chief Scientific Officer, and
“Today’s transaction reinforces the novel immunoregulatory target discovery programs of the
Crucial to the development of NX-13, the NIMML team first characterized the key role of NLRX1 – a mitochondria-associated receptor involved in down-regulating inflammation – in the protection from IBD. NLRX1 modulates epithelial cell metabolism and the gut microbiota, which was demonstrated through seminal publications of immunology studies conducted by Dr. Bassaganya-Riera’s team, finding deficiency of NLRX1 worsens inflammatory responses in both CD4+ T cells and epithelial cells and shifts the metabolic preferences of cells. The NIMML team identified transdisciplinary mechanisms of NLRX1 anti-inflammatory effects whereby the regulation of lactate metabolism by NLRX1 aids in the prevention of effector T cell responses and the regulation of glutamine metabolism aids in the maintenance of epithelial barrier integrity. These immunometabolic findings laid the groundwork for Dr. Bassaganya-Riera’s team’s clinical development of NX-13 as a novel NLRX1 agonist oral therapy for the treatment of UC.
About Omilancor
By activating the LANCL2 pathway and modulating the interactions between immunological and metabolic signals in immune and epithelial cells, omilancor is a first-in-class, oral, once-daily, gut restricted therapeutic designed to create a favorable regulatory microenvironment in the gut, decreasing the production of key inflammatory mediators and increasing anti-inflammatory functions in regulatory T cells (Treg) within the site of inflammation. Omilancor has completed Phase 2 clinical testing in UC patients showing a clinical remission of 30.4% with a placebo-adjusted 12-week clinical remission rate of 26.7% (p=0.01) for the 440 mg dose. Following demonstration of a statistically significant approvable primary endpoint for clinical remission in an active disease patient population, Omilancor is currently in Phase 3 clinical testing for UC and Phase 2 clinical testing for CD.
About NIM-1324
NIM-1324 is an oral, systemically distributed, small-molecule therapeutic candidate which activates LANCL2, a surface membrane-associated receptor that is responsible for modulating key cellular and molecular changes tied to autoimmune diseases. By activating the LANCL2 pathway, NIM-1324 increases the anti-inflammatory capacity and stability of regulatory CD4+ T cells while also supporting the metabolic demands of autophagy in phagocytes. To date, treatment with NIM-1324 has reduced the production of interferon alpha in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and provided protection from clinical disease and tissue pathology in mouse models of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. Phase 2-ready NIM-1324 completed Phase 1 clinical testing where it met all endpoints and demonstrated a dose proportional change in plasma exposure within the therapeutic range with no accumulation.
About the TITAN-X Platform
The TITAN-X Precision Medicine Platform combines A.I. methodologies, bioinformatics, and advanced computational modeling to accelerate the development of precision medicines to address the unmet clinical needs of patients with autoimmune diseases. Building upon NIMML’s expertise in engineering large-scale computational models that study immunity as a massive and dynamically interacting system, the TITAN-X Platform integrates each step from new target discovery to enabling biomarker-driven precision clinical drug development. Following bioinformatic analysis of differentially expressed genes from patient biopsy specimens, the TITAN-X Platform can identify transcriptional predictive signatures by using advanced A.I. algorithms. By analyzing gene expression patterns and integrating clinical data, the TITAN-X Platform can identify responder patterns, facilitating precision medicine approaches for drug development. This ensures that patients receive therapies that are most likely to benefit them according to their unique genetic signatures and clinical profiles, and that are tailored to maximize efficacy, safety, tolerability and minimize adverse side effects.
About NIMML
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