Our Approach

Our approach is to develop fusion immunotherapeutics that reduce or eliminate the main drivers of chronic inflammation by addressing the underlying development and sustainment of these processes. We have developed potentially transformative fusion immunotherapeutic product candidates that rebalance or rejuvenate the immune cells to achieve disease-cell removal or senescent-cell reduction to address diseases linked to chronic inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases, cancer and senescence-associated dysplasia.

Autoimmune Diseases

Regulatory T (T_reg) cells play a pivotal role in downregulating the cytotoxicity of activated immune cells. Persistence of activated immune cells leads to autoimmune diseases. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) signaling is essential for homeostasis of regulatory T_reg cells. Unfortunately, recombinant IL-2, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma, has an unfavorable pharmacokinetic profile and induces capillary leak syndrome limiting its therapeutic use for treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Our approach is to rebalance the immune system. To achieve this, we created IL-2-based fusion immunotherapeutics using our platform technology to function as a potent agent to stimulate and expand T_reg cells that suppress the activity of proinflammatory cells and factors, without triggering capillary leak syndrome to treat autoimmune diseases.

Cancer and Senescence-Associated Dysplasia

The induction and retention of low-grade inflammation in the human body is mainly the result of the accumulation of non-proliferative but metabolically active senescent cells. Senescent cells can also result from persistent activation of immune cells. These two elements share common mechanisms in promoting secretion of pro-inflammatory proteins and in many cases interact to drive cancer and senescence. Our novel approach is to use our fusion immunotherapeutic to rejuvenate the immune cells to eliminate cancer cells and reduce senescent cells and eliminate the pro-inflammatory factors they secrete systemically. We believe our novel immunotherapeutic approach has the potential to fundamentally change the treatment of cancer and senescence-associated dysplasia.