Bio venture Axexo Biopharma said on the 12th that it will develop the drug candidate "3,4-cPP (AX-0076)" as a platform-type candidate that can be applied to multiple indications, including inflammatory bowel disease, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
According to Axexo Biopharma, 3,4-cPP is a functional agonist that persistently activates the S1PR1 protein. It said the mechanism has been confirmed to suppress excessive inflammatory responses while restoring protective barriers in blood vessels and the intestinal mucosa through the S1PR1–SIRT1 signaling axis.
While some commercially available S1P receptor modulators block lymphocyte trafficking, 3,4-cPP persistently activates S1PR1 without downregulating it.
The company is first looking at inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as a development indication. It said improvements in disease activity and tissue damage markers were observed in animal models, and improved survival was also confirmed in a sepsis animal model.
Axexo Biopharma also presented the possibility of developing an oral formulation. According to the company, oral bioavailability is about 20.6% to 29.5% based on mouse pharmacokinetic studies.
Founded in 2010, Axexo Biopharma is developing an oral targeted protein degradation (TPD) platform and 3,4-cPP as core technologies. However, these results are preclinical data at the animal and cell levels, and safety and efficacy in humans must be verified through clinical trials.