Towards a New Era of Peptide-Based Drugs

Pepticom is making groundbreaking advancements in peptide drug discovery, now applied in immunology with the development of an AI and machine learning-based platform designed to discover novel therapeutic peptides (short proteins). This innovative approach aims to accelerate the development timelines for treatments across various diseases. Pepticom's initial focus is on creating an oral treatment for psoriasis, a skin condition.

"Peptides share some similar properties with antibodies, which are typically administered by injection to treat certain diseases," says Dr. Immanuel Lerner, CEO and founder of Pepticom. "Our focus is on developing entirely innovative peptides that can be taken orally while functioning similarly to injectable antibodies. Therefore, we work on projects that involve replacing an injectable drug with an orally administered one. The biggest challenge is that discovering these cyclic peptides is extremely difficult for researchers today. However, our innovative platform has successfully achieved this, and in the future, it may lead to the discovery of treatments for additional diseases."

Pepticom is based in the High-Tech Village in Givat Ram, Jerusalem. Over the years, its investors have included the Chartered Group and other partners.

Addressing the needs of patient populations who cannot tolerate injectable medications
Pepticom leveraged its platform to develop a leading program targeting plaque psoriasis. "This is a widespread disease with an annual market exceeding $20 billion, and highly effective injectable treatments are already available. These injectable treatments work by inhibiting the IL-17 protein, which plays a crucial role in psoriasis. However, entire groups of psoriasis patients, for example those with milder cases, cannot access these drugs because they are only available via injection. The pharmaceutical industry is currently racing to develop orally administered molecules that inhibit this protein, eliminating the need for injections. Pepticom, in collaboration with leading pharmaceutical companies, is at the forefront of this effort."

At what stage are you currently?
"We are now in the pre-clinical trial phase and we have achieved promising and interesting results. Note that orally administered peptides are not trivial to develop, and once we succeed in achieving our goal for psoriasis, we will be able to target many other diseases as well."

What is the advantage of your platform?
"Despite the growing interest in the pharmaceutical industry in developing peptide drugs, the discovery process is still expensive and lengthy. Our platform uses AI to accelerate and streamline the researchers' efforts in identifying peptide molecules for new drugs. Our technology enables the discovery of the most advanced peptide drugs by efficiently searching through a vast array of potential solutions. There are no tools in the market today that provide access to this complex chemistry."

Dr. Lerner concludes that "Numerous pharmaceutical companies and major pharmaceutical investors are showing significant interest in immunology and peptide development, paving the way for the development of a new generation of drugs not seen before."

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In collaboration with Pepticom