Adocia, the clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative formulations of approved proteins for the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic diseases, announced an update of its corporate strategy. The company, which has built one of the most differentiated portfolio of injectable diabetes therapies, is expanding application of its proprietary BioChaperone technology to new therapeutic areas.
“These two new projects that we introduce, BioChaperone Teduglutide for the treatment of short bowel syndrome and BioChaperone Glucagon Exenatide for the treatment of obesity, are an excellent illustration of the great potential of the BioChaperone platform. Entering into new therapeutic areas creates additional partnering opportunities with different companies.” said Gérard Soula, Adocia president and chief excuetive officer. “We also continue our efforts to partner our core diabetes programs, including the phase 3-ready ultra-rapid insulin BioChaperone Lispro.”
Adocia’s proprietary BioChaperone technology is designed to deliver meaningful enhancement of single agents and enable the combination of multiple therapeutic proteins into a ready-to-use formulation. By improving the solubility and stability of therapeutic proteins and peptides in aqueous solution, BioChaperone has enabled the development a large portfolio of clinical and pre-clinical stage products, and has demonstrated safety and efficacy in multiple clinical trials.
Notably, BioChaperone has enabled the acceleration of the time action profile of a prandial insulin (BioChaperone Lispro, ready to enter phase 3), the creation of a ready-to-inject aqueous formulation of human glucagon (BioChaperone Glucagon, phase 1 completed) and the combination of previously non-mixable agents in a single aqueous formulation (BioChaperone Glargine Lispro, phase 2 and BioChaperone Pramlintide Human Insulin, preclinical).
“Adocia has built significant expertise through our focused work in injectable therapeutics for diabetes treatment” said Olivier Soula, deputy general manager and director of R&D at Adocia. “BioChaperone technology has been shown in clinical trials to unlock important benefits for patients. We now see the opportunity to expand the use of BioChaperone to an array of proteins and peptides to bring meaningful, cost-effective innovation to other conditions with high therapeutic unmet needs.”
The first project to be announced as part of this expanded strategy is BioChaperone Teduglutide. Teduglutide (Gattex, Shire) is a GLP-2 analog approved for the management of short bowel syndrome as a once-daily injectable. It is currently marketed as a lyophilizate in a kit, requiring multiple reconstitution stages prior to each daily injection. By solubilizing and stabilizing teduglutide in an aqueous formulation, BioChaperone technology may deliver significant improvement to the daily life of people living with short bowel syndrome.
The second project announced today is BioChaperone Glucagon Exenatide, a stable aqueous fixed-ratio combination of glucagon and exenatide for the treatment of obesity. It is based on BioChaperone Glucagon, the ready-to-inject formulation of human glucagon, for which positive phase 1 topline results were recently announced by Adocia. Multi-hormonal approaches have recently been shown to hold promise for increased energy expenditure, significant weight loss and improved glycemic control in people with obesity.
Both programs are now in preclinical testing. Other pipeline candidates are currently under evaluation. Adocia will consider partnering opportunities at any stage of development of these assets.