ActoBiotics™:

Third Generation Pharma Products

ActoBiotics™ build on the existing advantages of today’s biotech products to create the potential blockbuster drugs for tomorrow. They combine the main advantages of protein-based biopharmaceuticals, including high selectivity and low inherent toxicity, with benefits such as oral availability and low production cost. Moreover, ActoBiotics™ exhibit additional favorable characteristics such as a superior safety profile. Taken together, these features position ActoBiotics™ as promising third generation therapeutics.

Some of the competitive advantages of ActoBiotics™, in comparison with (first generation) conventional chemical drugs and (second generation) biopharmaceuticals, are:

 

 

 

  • Oral administration: ActoBiotics™ are formulated in capsules for oral administration. Compared to biopharmaceuticals, of which most have to be administered as injections, this represents a significant advantage in terms of patient convenience and treatment cost.
  • High efficacy through gastrointestinal targeting: because of their topical and localized delivery in the gut, ActoBiotics™ can selectively and efficiently address certain receptors and pathways present in the gastrointestinal (GI) system. These are more difficult to reach with current protein-based therapeutics which are mostly delivered by intravenous or subcutaneous injection and which cannot easily reach the same concentration at the desired site of action in the GI tract.
  • Favorable side effect profile: because of their local delivery in the gut, ActoBiotics™ can be designed to limit systemic exposure. This means that their potential effect on non-target organs is minimal, leading to reduced side effects compared to injected biopharmaceuticals and conventional chemical drugs, which generally exhibit broad systemic exposure.
  • Greater safety through lower dosing: the total amount of active drug molecules released by ActoBiotics™ is generally much lower  than for injected biopharmaceuticals. This reduces overall drug exposure, decreases the risk for adverse events and provides for a superior safety profile.
  • Favorable pharmacokinetics: when delivered into the GI tract, ActoBiotics™ reside there for 8-48 hours. During this time, they continuously release an appropriate amount of active drug molecules. As such, they mimic the way in which natural biomolecules are released by our own cells in the body. Such a natural and slow release profile is in contrast with the pharmacokinetic profile of many conventional drug products, which often show a high peak of concentration in the body on delivery, followed by a quick decline shortly thereafter.
  • Versatility of the platform: almost any protein or peptide (with the exception of glycosilated proteins) can be engineered using the  TopAct™ platform and can be formulated as an ActoBiotic™. Hence the platform opportunities are almost unlimited and ActoGeniX is well positioned to build a rich pipeline of new therapeutic products.
  • Efficient drug discovery: the creation of new ActoBiotics™ using the TopAct™ technology is a straightforward procedure and takes between four to six weeks. This means that ActoGeniX is capable of generating new drug leads, ready for testing in preclinical models, within a very competitive timeframe.
  • Reduced failure risk in drug development: one of the main reasons for the skyrocketing costs of new drug development is the increasing technical risk with high failure rate of novel therapeutic leads during the drug development process (preclinical and clinical).                         For  its ActoBiotics™, ActoGeniX can select peptides and proteins which already have documented efficacy and safety profiles, providing the potential for a higher success rate and a more straightforward development path than for newly discovered drug entities.
  • Ease of manufacturing: ActoBiotics™ are produced by conventional bacterial fermentation, followed by freeze-drying. The lyophilized powder is formulated into capsules for oral administration. This is a straightforward and cost-effective manufacturing process.