TIDMETX
RNS Number : 7670Z
e-Therapeutics plc
16 January 2024
e-therapeutics plc
("e-therapeutics" or "ETX" or the "Company")
Business Update
Proof-of-concept datasets on four assets
Two programs to progress to IND-enabling studies
Range of specialist AI agents in development
London, UK, 16 January 2024 - e-therapeutics plc (AIM: ETX), a
company integrating computational power and biological data to
discover life-transforming RNAi medicines, is pleased to provide
the following business update.
2023 was a year of significant execution and progress in
e-therapeutics' mission of computing the future of medicine. ETX
has moved rapidly to incorporate Large Language Models (LLMs) and
transformer technology into its platforms, while continuing to
deploy advanced analytics and AI. The Company now has multiple,
successful case studies showcasing the power of AI within its drug
discovery process combined with the speed and specificity of its
GalOmic RNAi drug platform.
A key part of the Company's strategy is to build a highly
differentiated therapeutic pipeline, having exclusively nominated
and prosecuted novel target genes not pursued by any other RNAi
player. These targets were identified in-house, leveraging HepNet's
suite of proprietary datasets and advanced analytical
functionality.
All nominated targets investigated to date have yielded positive
results in preclinical studies. ETX believes that this outstanding
hit rate is a result of the unique combination of AI-enhanced
computational target selection and drug design coupled with siRNA,
a well-tolerated and highly specific modality. The Company is
confident that these datasets will be of significant interest to
prospective partners and is actively exploring potential
partnerships. Pipeline highlights include:
- ETX-407 for the treatment of dry age-related macular
degeneration (dAMD), a leading cause of blindness worldwide, has
the potential to be a transformative, patient-friendly (no
intravitreal injections required) therapeutic option with human
genetic validation. ETX-407 demonstrates the applicability of ETX's
hepatocyte-targeting GalOmic platform to indications affecting
distal organs. In dAMD, the ability to modulate disease pathology
without direct injection into the eye and with infrequent
administration (at least monthly) is a material differentiator from
available treatments.
Non-human primate data readouts for this target were produced in
just 9 months after target nomination, demonstrating ETX's ability
to go rapidly from "idea" to in vivo results at a pace not
achievable by other drug modalities.
- ETX-312 has shown exceptional results in an industry-leading
diet-induced obesity (DIO) model of NASH/MASH(1) . The model,
developed by Danish company Gubra, is rated by experts as the most
translatable murine model of NASH/MASH. ETX-312 was assessed both
as monotherapy and as a combination treatment, including with GLP-1
receptor agonists. The disease modulation seen with ETX-312's
highly novel approach is considered extremely significant in the
context of the approved and emerging NASH/MASH treatment
landscape.
- IND/CTA enabling studies for both ETX-407 and ETX-312 are to commence in due course.
- Preclinical studies for ETX-148 as a treatment for haemophilia
have been successfully completed. ETX-148 demonstrated protection
from joint bleeds in mouse models of haemophilia with no thrombotic
risk, thereby addressing a key unmet need in haemophilia of
reducing haemarthrosis (joint bleeds) with a low treatment
burden.
- Preclinical studies of ETX-291 for the treatment of
cardiometabolic disease have been successfully completed. In a
representative disease model, ETX-291 impacted multiple
cardiometabolic disease drivers resulting in a pleiotropic benefit
and highlighting its potential to treat a broad range of
cardiometabolic indications.
- Continued progress on ETX-258 in an undisclosed indication.
- Last near-term milestone successfully achieved in
collaboration with iTeos in immuno-oncology, validating the
Company's computational approach to modelling human biology and
identifying novel potential targets. This successful partnership
with iTeos provides additional evidence of the power of ETX's
computational approaches to drug discovery. The Company is also
eligible to receive further undisclosed milestones.
The Company expects to end the year with a strong balance sheet
with a cash position of c. GBP20.1 million (31 January 2023:
GBP31.7 million), exceeding management's expectations. This
financial stability, having achieved the above milestones under
historically harsh conditions with a cash reduction of only GBP11.5
million during the year, underscores the Company's resilience and
adeptness in financial and operational management.
(1) Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is now known as
metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) following a
recent change in disease nomenclature.
Ali Mortazavi, Chief Executive Officer of e-therapeutics,
commented: "Against the backdrop of the harshest macroeconomic and
sector conditions seen in decades, 2023 was a year of remarkable
progress for e-therapeutics. We now have compelling evidence
demonstrating the applicability of our computational/AI systems
across our business. We have reproducibly and rapidly progressed
multiple programs from novel target discovery to strong in vivo
proof-of-concept, with an outstanding hit rate. This has all been
achieved with a rigorous eye on our costs and maintaining a healthy
balance sheet.
"Both ETX-407 and ETX-312 have the potential to be highly
differentiated, first-on-target medicines in diseases with high
unmet need and we are excited to be progressing these assets
towards the clinic. ETX is now firmly established as a leader in
the emergent TechBio sector, and we look forward to 2024 with great
confidence."
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has
been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal)
Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory
Information Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now
considered to be in the public domain.
Enquiries
e-therapeutics plc
Ali Mortazavi, CEO Tel: +44 (0)1993 883
Timothy Bretherton, CFO 125
www.etherapeutics.co.uk
------------------------------------------------ -------------------------
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Tel: +44(0)20 3470
0470
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Matthew Johnson/Caroline Rowe (Corporate
Finance)
Vadim Alexandre/Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)
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About e-therapeutics plc
e-therapeutics plc ("ETX") integrates computational power and
biology information to discover life-transforming RNAi medicines.
The Company's technology uses computation to capture and model
human biology, identify novel targets, and develop RNAi medicines
against those targets that can be rapidly progressed to the
clinic.
ETX's proprietary HepNet(TM) platform enables the generation and
analysis of biological network models, providing a novel and
mechanistic approach to drug discovery. This approach explicitly
considers the true complexity of biology to make more reliable
predictions from large complex data sets and ETX's proprietary
hepatocyte knowledgebase - the world's most comprehensive and
integrated hepatocyte-centric data resource. The Company generates,
prioritises, and tests millions of hypotheses in silico to identify
better therapeutic targets with higher confidence.
GalOmic(TM), ETX's proprietary RNAi platform, enables targeted
delivery to hepatocytes in the liver and the specific silencing of
novel disease-associated genes, identified by HepNet(TM). The focus
on hepatocytes offers the opportunity to tackle a wide variety of
diseases. The liver is a highly metabolically active organ which
performs a key role in many biological processes and vital
functions crucial for human health. ETX's GalOmic(TM) constructs
have demonstrated compelling in vivo performance in terms of depth
of gene silencing and duration of action.
The Company is progressing a pipeline of first-in-class RNAi
candidates across a variety of therapeutic areas with high unmet
need, including preclinical programs in cardiometabolic and
metabolic diseases, haemophilia, and other undisclosed indications.
ETX has also partnered with biopharma companies such as Novo
Nordisk, Galapagos NV and iTeos Therapeutics using its
computational network biology approach across a diverse range of
drug discovery projects.
The Company is based in London, UK and listed on the Alternative
Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ("AIM"), with ticker
symbol ETX.
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