Auctus Biologics, Inc., a new portfolio company of Ichor Therapeutics, Inc., announced today the closure of $1.5MM in seed funding. The company will develop RPtag, a hyper-stable antibody mimetic scaffold published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Biochemistry, to take on conventional clinical antibody therapy as an orally bioavailable formulation. New high priority immunosenescence and gastrointestinal targets will also be pursued.
"The RPtag platform opens up a new frontier in biological drug discovery and development," said Kelsey Moody, CEO at Auctus Biologics. "Although there may be significant opportunities to develop this platform as an oral formulation to replace the need for conventional intravenous infusions, we are also very excited about the prospect of deploying this technology to modulate gut micro-flora and to go after other gut targets that may drive age-associated disease and related processes."
"This program is a testament to the excellence of our research teams and their ability to identify unique value in all its manifestations," said Aaron Wolfe, COO at Auctus Biologics and co-inventor of the platform. "This technology was originally developed for protein expression applications. By following the data and affording the team an appropriate level of scientific freedom, we have created a robust therapeutic platform that can operate in environments where biologics are traditionally limited."
Press inquiries should be directed to Stephanie Martens at stephanie.martens@ichortherapeutics.com.
About Auctus:
Auctus Biologics, Inc., a portfolio company of Ichor Therapeutics, is a biotechnology company that creates new therapies using antibody mimetic scaffolds based on RPtag. Founded in 2018, the company is developing next generation biologics and is pursuing targets in extreme anatomical environments like the gut where antibodies cannot currently be used.
About Ichor:
Ichor Therapeutics, Inc. is a vertically integrated research organization focused on diseases and pathways of aging. R&D initiatives that constitute Ichor’s portfolio companies include small molecule drug discovery (Antoxerene, Inc.), enzyme therapy (Lysoclear, Inc.), antibody mimetics (Auctus Biologics, Inc.), and protein engineering tools (RecombiPure, Inc.). Ichor and its portfolio companies operate from its corporate offices and research laboratories in rural LaFayette, NY. The company is eager to engage collaborators in the life science industry and in academia who share its vision of delivering next generation therapies for the illnesses of aging.
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Contacts:
Stephanie Martens
stephanie.martens@ichortherapeutics.com
