A company aiming to increase the length of time people live longer and healthier lives has launched after having been operational since March 2020.
Oxitope Pharma is looking to treat diseases that are driven by oxidative stress. The company will be aiming to discover and develop medicines that prevent, halt, or reverse acute and chronic diseases driven by inflammation and cell death as a result of oxidative stress.
The company was co-founded by professors Joe Witztum and Sam Tsimikas at the University of California San Diego and has been seed financed by venture capital firm Forbion.
Oxidative stress can induce the formation of Oxidation Specific Epitopes (OSEs), which are key drivers of unhealthy ageing and are a primary source of morbidity and mortality. They also play a key role in inflammatory, cardiovascular and fibrotic diseases. Oxitope aims to provide first-in-class therapeutics to treat a range of cardiovascular, inflammatory and fibrotic indications. The medicines the company develops will be advanced antibody-based therapies targeting OSEs.
Using its seed financing, Oxitope will look to further validate the relevance of therapeutically targeting OSEs in a range of preclinical models of acute and chronic cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, and to nominate candidate antibodies for clinical development.
By developing a range of advanced antibody-based therapies targeting OSEs, Oxitope aims to provide first-in-class therapeutics to treat a range of cardiovascular, inflammatory and fibrotic indications.
Professor Joe Witztum / Prof. Sam Tsimikas, co-founders of Oxitope, said: “After so many years of fundamental research in the laboratory, it is with great joy that we see the beginnings of the application of the knowledge gained to treatment of inflammatory disorders in humans. It is the dream of all researchers to see their work translated to the clinic and we look forward with great anticipation to this effort.”
Forbion Operating Partner and new CEO of Oxitope John Montana added: “I look forward to the future collaboration with Oxitope’s founders and their team to progress this exciting new therapeutic approach to treating the underlying inflammation and fibrotic activity underpinning a range of oxidative stress induced diseases. Backed by four decades of research, I am confident that the scientific network and drug discovery expertise that supports Oxitope will be key to its success.”