Many of the protein therapies available today, and more therapies still in development, all started with computers. The software identifies the protein shapes most suitable for therapeutic applications, and these designs are tested in the laboratory. Although computing technology has promoted the design and development of new therapeutic proteins, even the most advanced proteins are limited to the 20 standard amino acids found in nature, which are an integral part of all proteins. Harvard-derived GRO Biosciences aims to improve protein therapy by expanding this amino acid alphabet.
GRObio has been quietly developing its technology in the past few years. The company has made progress in its preclinical research and is now positioning itself as advancing its own therapies and establishing partnerships with pharmaceutical companies interested in using the startup’s technology.To support these efforts, Grobbio announced on Wednesday USD 25 million A round of financing jointly led by Leaps and Redmile Group.
The science behind GRObio comes from the laboratory of Harvard scientist George Church. His discoveries have led to the establishment of many life science startups. Dan Mandell, co-founder and CEO of GRObio, is a genetics researcher at Harvard University, where he worked with Church to calculate and design new proteins whose folding and function depend on this new amino acid alphabet (NSAA) composed of non-standard amino acids .
Therapeutic proteins are produced by using the protein translation mechanism of bacteria.Companies such as Ginkgo Biological Science, Synlogic, and Absci and Escherichia coli Produce their commodity chemicals and proteins. For many synthetic biology companies, Escherichia coli Bacteria of choice because they are cheap and easy to use, Mandell said. GRObio also works with Escherichia coliBased on the organism.But the company recoded Escherichia coli Genome so that these bacteria can produce protein through the use of NSAA. GRObio refers to these bacteria as “gene recoded organisms” or GRO.
“The special thing about these organisms is that they can make proteins composed of amino acids other than the 20 standard amino acids,” Mandel said. “These organisms are the only organisms that can produce these NSAA proteins efficiently and on a large scale.”
So why would anyone want a protein produced by GRO made from NSAA? Mandel said that therapeutic proteins made with standard amino acids still have limitations from safety issues to treatment durability. Cooperation with NSAA can produce customized proteins whose shape and chemical properties provide advantages for biopharmaceuticals.
To date, GRObio is collaborating with two NSAA chemical series. The first, which the company calls DuraLogic, produces a protein that is more stable and extends its half-life. Mandell said that it is inconvenient or undesirable (or both) for the currently available biopharmaceuticals to be administered by frequent injections, which has caused many patients to miss doses. By creating a more stable protein, GRObio can produce a drug that has a longer therapeutic effect, which means protein therapy that requires less frequent injections.
The second NSAA family named ProGly by GRObio enables this biotechnology to directly regulate the immune system, providing a new method for solving autoimmune diseases. Mandel said that the immune system distinguishes foreign proteins from parts of the body by detecting sugar molecules called glycans on the protein surface. GRObio aims to express proteins modified with human glycans, which will re-educate the immune system to recognize that they belong to the body.
GRObio did not disclose which diseases it aims to solve, only that the technology can be applied to autoimmune and metabolic disorders. One of the company’s early projects was a modified form of insulin that can be administered once a week.The company is Grant The first phase of small business innovation research funding in 2019 was used for this research, and the second phase of funding was subsequently received in 2020. Mandell acknowledged that GRObio has been committed to insulin research and said that the company has received approximately US$1.5 million in undiluted capital to support this work.
Mandell said that in the absence of a designated disease target, he expects GRObio to start the first human testing of GRO-grown therapeutic proteins in 2024. The new funding will support the preclinical research that led to these tests. GRObio is also looking for partners in the pharmaceutical industry. These partners can license GRObio treatment candidates and assume responsibility for the clinical development and potential commercialization of new protein therapies.
Mandell said that GRObio is still considering alliances with companies that want to cooperate with NSAA but cannot because they cannot obtain a production platform that can produce NSAA-based proteins on a large scale. Mandel said that companies that have designed their own new molecules and are looking at GRO as a way to produce them have approached GRObio.
Before announcing the financing on Wednesday, GRObio had raised $2.1 million in 2017 Seed financing Led by Digitalis Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. These companies have also joined the A round of financing, bringing the total investment of the startup to date to 31.2 million US dollars.
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