The origins and proprietory technologies developed by the company.Fintan Walton:
Hello and welcome to PharmaVentures business Review here live in San Diego, California. On this show, I have Jean-Pierre Obrecht, who is CEO of Polyphor, a company which is based near Basel in Switzerland. Welcome to the show.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Thank you very much and thanks for the invitation. It's a great pleasure to be here.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Especially in a great moment for our company where we had made a big step in validation of our proprietary technology.
Fintan Walton:
Excellent, well before we go into the detail of that, what I would like to do is to ask you the question around the foundation of your company Polyphor and the origins of the company, Could you tell us that?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Sure. Polyphor was founded in 1996 by my brother and myself and when we start we did service business in the Small Molecule Drug Discovery area. We would synthesis general libraries for hit identification and focus libraries for hit-to-lead and lead optimization for the pharmaceutical industry.
Fintan Walton:
Okay. And you've developed that company over the last 12-years now. How has that company changed and particular what technologies have you developed to build your company?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes. 2001 was an important year in the history of Polyphor. In 2001 significant financing round took place in order to finance the development of a technology known as -Protein-Epitope-Mimetics that we have developed together with Professor Robinson at the University of Zurich.
Fintan Walton:
What is the basis of this technology and what does it provide to the pharmaceutical industry?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Protein-Epitope-Mimetics or just PEM provides access to fully synthetic medium-size cyclo-peptide derived molecules that are able to mimic surface patches of proteins, especially those frequently occurring at interfaces of interacting proteins technology. Pharmacophore have this high propensity to interfere with the protein -protein interactions, big class of targets, which is difficult to tackle with the classical Small Molecule Drug Discovery approach.
Fintan Walton:
Right. So this provides a new platform for pharmaceutical companies to identify new products?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Exactly. So we try to exploit PEM technology in two ways. On the one hand we have internal R&D programs.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
And on the other hand we are offering access to PEM technology, to pharma companies to work on their proprietary targets.
The hybrid modelFintan Walton:
Okay. So you've moved from a service based company to the hybrid model of both providing services, continue to provide services to the pharmaceutical industry but also to develop your own products?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Exactly.
Fintan Walton:
So, is that a new challenge for a company like yours?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Certainly this has been a big change from the service business into own drug discovery project, number of newer capabilities had to be build up and we have been able, now in the mean time to build up an attractive portfolio of drug candidates.
Fintan Walton:
Right. So having the service side to the business provides cash into the company.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes.
Fintan Walton:
And is that cash it is gonna be used to develop the new products?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Exactly.
Fintan Walton:
Or are you gonna look for an additional investment?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Well the Small Molecule business unit has been profitable since 2001 and all the profits have been invested into the development of PEM technology, the products however this was not sufficient and so we have gone to several smaller and larger financing rounds in the past.
Fintan Walton:
Okay and so the company remains a private company, is that correct?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes, yes indeed.
Therapeutic areas focussed onFintan Walton:
Okay. So you said you are developing your own proprietary products?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes.
Fintan Walton:
What specific therapeutic areas are you focused on?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Well, PEM technology is applicable to a wide variety of therapeutic areas and targets. Our most advanced product POL6326 is a CXCR4 inhibitor and has just completed Phase I clinical studies which is a very important step of course for this product which has numerous application in hematology, oncology, inflammation and in tissue repair . But it's of course also a big step in the validation of the whole technology to be able to show that these PEM molecules are safe and efficacious meant.
The opportunity for collaboration.Fintan Walton:
Sure. Taking the hybrid model, which you have you are developing these products yourself, you have these collaborations through the service model to the pharmaceutical companies themselves, does that provide you with an advantage that a normal – normal biotech company wouldn't have because you now access the scientists and the needs of the pharmaceutical companies who you serve?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Exactly.
Fintan Walton:
Does that provide an opportunity for collaboration?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes.
Fintan Walton:
Additional collaboration?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Exactly, exactly. We have built up a long-term relationships with the number of big pharmaceutical companies and of course this facilitates discussions about PEM Technology.
Fintan Walton:
Sure, yes. And the other thing of course is you mentioned earlier when we started that this has been a very good time for you. Could you describe what that has been or why you are so excited about your company at the moment?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes. As I mentioned, we have just been able to conclude successfully Phase I clinical trial with our most advanced product.
Fintan Walton:
Okay. So that, that now means you are gonna move to Phase II on your own or you're going to take that product forward at your own cost?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes. Actually we are planning to finance Phase IIA study later this year. And also some pre-clinical studies for antibiotic which is in earlier stage of development. Of course we are looking for possibilities to partner.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
The compound especially in the area of hematology and oncology.
Strong development and the transformation in the biotechnology space in switzerland.Fintan Walton:
Right. And Switzerland has now developed in recent times quite a strong biotechnology base both by companies spinning out of the large pharma companies but also some of the indigenous companies being formed. In the years that you started, you've started 12-years ago, have you seen that transformation and how do you feel about that transformation?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Well, we have clearly seen this transformation at that time where we founded our company there was virtually no venture capital available.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
In the mean time several venture funds have established in Switzerland and have financed a lot of start-up companies.
Fintan Walton:
So the, there is a cluster effect and that helps your company going forward?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Yes certainly. There are many successful biotech companies around Allschwil, where we are located and then the Basel area.
Milestones for the futureFintan Walton:
Yeah, so Jean-Pierre Obrecht when you look into the future of the next year for your company and the, the developments you've see -- you have reached this important milestone. What are the milestones you hope to see in the next year or two?
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
We like to further develop our product portfolio and establish PEM technology, and PEM molecules as a new class of drugs between small molecules and the biopharmaceutical.
Fintan Walton:
Well, Thanks very much indeed for -- Jean-Pierre Obrecht, for giving us an insite into Polyphor and your recent developments that you have had. We look forward to watching the development of your company over the next few years. Thank you very much indeed.
Jean-Pierre Obrecht:
Thank you.