SAN JOSE, Calif., April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Anixa
Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused
on the treatment, prevention, and diagnosis of cancer and
infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into a
strategic collaboration with OntoChem GmbH to discover and develop
anti-viral drug candidates for COVID-19.
Dr. Amit Kumar, President and CEO
of Anixa Biosciences stated, "There are a number of drugs that are
either in, or will shortly be in, clinical trials against
COVID-19. While we unquestionably hope one or more of those
drugs is successful, we must note that all those drugs were
developed for other viruses and other diseases. During this
very acute pandemic, it's expected that previously developed
molecules will be tried, to quickly determine if something is
effective. However, we believe that newly designed drugs that
are purposefully developed to specifically target SARS-CoV-2,
enabled by the recent studies of the molecular biology of this
virus, will have the potential to be far more effective than hoping
to get lucky with a repurposed drug. Therefore we are
initiating this program to identify drugs that may have much
greater efficacy. Additionally, the research plan is designed
to identify compounds that might have efficacy not only against
SARS-CoV-2, but other similar viral diseases as well."
While Anixa has primarily focused in oncology, its nimble and
flexible capital efficient business model, enables it to
effectively address new critical unmet needs such as this dynamic
pandemic. Further, Dr. Kumar has previous experience working
in the infectious disease area, including work done with the
SARS-virus that emerged in 2003. In fact, Dr. Kumar and his
company at that time, worked with a number of government agencies
including the Department of Defense to develop technologies to
detect and monitor deadly infectious diseases. In performing
that work, Dr. Kumar made presentations to various members of the
U.S. Senate and House regarding upcoming and emerging
diseases. Considering the acute public health and economic
problems caused by COVID-19, Anixa felt it was important to utilize
its expertise and leverage its business model to address this
pandemic.
Dr. Kumar continued, "We are pleased to be working with OntoChem
for the discovery and development of new drug candidates for
COVID-19. OntoChem has developed the world's largest
chemistry and gene ontology databases and search capability and has
assembled large, proprietary, in silico libraries of
chemical compounds that could disrupt the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to
replicate. In silico refers to the existence of
compounds in a computer database with detailed molecular
structures. In addition to its proprietary libraries,
OntoChem has access to other libraries of potential drug
compounds. After recent publications of the RNA sequence, as
well as key crystal structures of certain enzymes of the virus, we
approached OntoChem to collaborate on a project to utilize their
proprietary technologies for drug discovery."
Dr. Lutz Weber, President and CEO
of OntoChem stated, "The discovery of investigational drug
candidates can ordinarily take several years. However,
through this collaboration, we anticipate identifying multiple drug
candidates in as little as six months' time. To do this, we
will utilize advanced computational methods, machine learning and
molecular modeling techniques to perform in silico screening
of over 1.2 billion compounds to evaluate if any could disrupt one
of two key enzymes of the virus. This comprehensive group of
over 1.2 billion compounds includes publicly available and
OntoChem's proprietary libraries. To our knowledge, this
project will utilize the largest number of compounds with the
broadest chemical diversity ever tried against SARS-CoV-2.
Due to the size and diversity of the compounds, we are very
optimistic about success. After identifying key compounds, we
will have them synthesized and evaluated in biological and cellular
assays to assess their potency. Following that work, we hope
to have a small number of candidates that can be taken into animal
studies."
Dr. Weber continued, "This project is a very promising approach
to identifying and developing a drug specifically for
COVID-19. Following publication of recent information about
COVID-19, we were evaluating certain projects addressing this
disease agent. We were pleased that Anixa proposed this
collaboration to work together using both companies' collective
expertise and our proprietary technologies."
COVID-19 Program Description:
The Anixa-OntoChem
COVID-19 program will focus on two specific proteins of the
coronavirus. The first protein is the main protease,
Mpro, which is an enzyme of the virus that severs a
large poly-peptide into functional proteins that enable the virus
to replicate in the human host. The program will attempt to
identify molecules that inhibit the function of this enzyme, and
potentially stop or slow down the virus' ability to replicate and
cause disease. Since this protease does not have human
analogs, potential inhibitors may not affect any human proteins and
therefore toxic side effects may be minimized. Several
crystal structures of this enzyme have been published, including a
high resolution image published on March 20,
2020 (Science 2020,
DOI 10.1126/science.abb3405), which induced Dr. Kumar's
interest in targeting this protein. Using high performance
computing and artificial intelligence, Anixa and OntoChem will
identify molecules in the various libraries comprised of 1.2
billion compounds, which might inhibit this protein. One very
attractive chemical library is a proprietary, multi-component
reaction library created and owned by OntoChem utilizing its
extensive database of chemical reactions.
The second target is an endoribonuclease, which plays a role in
breaking up the ribonucleic acid, or the genetic content, of the
virus. Recent studies have demonstrated that the
endoribonuclease of many viruses, including the SARS virus of 2003
and it is believed the SARS-CoV-2, binds to a human host
protein. This protein-protein interaction appears to
dramatically increase the infectivity of the virus. Because
this interaction between a viral protein and a human protein
appears to be common to many viruses, compounds that are able to
effectively disrupt this interaction could function as broad
spectrum anti-virals in addition to addressing COVID-19.
After identifying promising molecules through in silico
screening, Anixa and OntoChem will evaluate the molecules'
potential side effects, as well as their drug-like
characteristics. The molecules will then be synthesized and
their activity will be evaluated with certain types of assays,
which may include binding assays, cellular assays, and the ability
to reduce viral activity. Upon completion of this biological
testing, the lead compounds will be tested in animals to determine
which compound may be appropriate for clinical evaluation.
Conference Call Information:
Anixa will host a
conference call and live audio webcast Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 4:15 p.m. ET. Interested participants and
investors may access the conference call by dialing:
- (877) 876-9174
- Conference ID: Anixa
An audio webcast will be accessible via the Investors section of
the Anixa website at https://ir.anixa.com/events. An archive
of the webcast will remain available for 30 days after the
call.
About Anixa Biosciences, Inc.
Anixa is a
publicly-traded biotechnology company developing a number of
programs addressing cancer and infectious disease. Anixa's
therapeutic portfolio includes a cancer vaccine technology focused
on the immunization against α-Lactalbumin to prevent triple
negative breast cancer (TNBC), a cancer immunotherapy program which
uses a novel type of CAR-T, known as chimeric endocrine receptor
T-cell (CER-T) technology, and a COVID-19 therapeutics program
focused on inhibiting certain viral protein function. The
company's diagnostic portfolio consists of Cchek™, a liquid biopsy
technology for early detection of solid tumors based on the body's
immune response to the presence of a malignancy. Anixa
continually examines emerging technologies in complementary fields
for further development and commercialization. Additional
information is available at www.anixa.com.
About OntoChem GmbH
OntoChem GmbH is a German based
company which is specialized in chemo- and bio-IT services.
As a data-driven company, OntoChem is using AI techniques to
answer project specific questions and is supporting scientists to
discover knowledge in the life sciences eco-system. OntoChem
is located in Halle (Saale) and
Stuttgart. Having started in
2005, the team has a long history of developing and applying
ontologies, software tools and data streams for life and material
science customers. More on OntoChem at www.ontochem.com.
Forward-Looking Statements: Statements
that are not historical fact may be considered forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical facts, but rather reflect Anixa's current
expectations concerning future events and results. We
generally use the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans,"
"anticipates," "likely," "will" and similar expressions to identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements,
including those concerning our expectations, involve risks,
uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our
control, which may cause our actual results, performance or
achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from
any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks,
uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to, those
factors set forth in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" and other sections of
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in our
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law. You
are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements
when evaluating the information presented in this press
release.
Anixa contact:
Mike Catelani
mcatelani@anixa.com
408-708-9808
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Miriam Miller (Investors)
mmiller@tiberend.com
212-375-2694
Johanna Bennett (Media)
jbennett@tiberend.com
212-375-2686
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SOURCE Anixa Biosciences, Inc.