Recently, the Frontier Supernova Cup: First Industry-University-Research-Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition came to a successful conclusion. Atheron was awarded the Excellence Second Prize with its innovative pharmaceutical R&D project ATH-097 and won the Excellence Second Prize.
Fig. The Atheron team delivering an impressive pitch at the competition.
The competition was jointly hosted by the Shanghai Biomedical Science and Technology Industry Promotion Center, the Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Center, and Shanghai Biomedical Frontier Industry Innovation Center Co., Ltd., and is a highly influential professional innovation and entrepreneurship competition in Shanghai's biomedical field. Aiming to connect the "industry, academia, research, and medical" innovation chain, the competition brought together clinical experts, scientific researchers, industrial investors, and industry entrepreneurs, and was committed to identifying source innovation projects in biomedicine and building a platform for showcasing, exchanging, and matching innovative achievements with investment and financing.
Winning the Excellence Second Prize this time represents recognition by industry experts of Atheron's source innovation capabilities, pipeline layout, and industry-university-research-medical translation pathway, and also provides support for the company's subsequent connection with clinical, industrial, and investment and financing resources. For Atheron, this is both encouragement and motivation for continued innovation. In the future, the company will focus on the two major fields of oncology and autoimmune diseases, rely on five technology platforms—antibody engineering, T-cell engagers (TCE), AthTAC, AthRiTAC, and oral peptides—and 11 large- and small-molecule pipelines, continue to deepen industry-university-research-medical collaboration, focus on unmet clinical needs, improve the efficiency of full-chain translation from molecular discovery and preclinical evaluation to process production and clinical research, promote the accelerated implementation of more innovative therapies, continuously develop pharmaceutical products with clinical value, and help drive the innovative development of Shanghai's biomedical industry.
About ATH-097
ATH-097 is an inhibitor targeting MRGPRX2. MRGPRX2 is a class A GPCR (G protein-coupled receptor) mainly expressed on mast cells. As granular cells in tissues, mast cells play important roles in host defense, allergic reactions, and vascular homeostasis. At present, mast cell activation mediated by the immunoglobulin E receptor (FcεRI) is the most deeply studied and generally accepted mechanism in allergic and hypersensitivity reactions. MRGPRX2 has been demonstrated to be a key receptor mediating non-IgE-dependent mast cell activation and has different affinities for a variety of ligands (such as antimicrobial host defense peptides, neuropeptides, and some drugs approved by the U.S. FDA). This discovery revealed a novel pathological pathway of mast cell activation. Therefore, the development of MRGPRX2 inhibitors is expected to fill the gap in existing therapies in the field of non-IgE-mediated allergic and inflammatory diseases and provide a highly promising new therapeutic option for mast cell-related diseases.
Preclinical studies have shown that the efficacy and safety of ATH-097 are superior to those of similar molecules, with Best-in-Class potential. At present, the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ATH-097 has been accepted by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration and is now under review. Notably, from project initiation to acceptance of the IND application, the project took only 17 months, demonstrating extremely high R&D translation efficiency and team execution, achieving the "Atheron speed" of innovative drug R&D.
Fig. Atheron team detailing the latest progress of ATH-097 to the review experts.
About Atheron
Atheron is a biotechnology company focusing on the two major fields of oncology and autoimmune diseases, with full-chain independent R&D capabilities from molecular discovery and preclinical evaluation to process production and clinical research. At present, the company has laid out 11 large- and small-molecule pipelines and possesses five cutting-edge technology platforms—antibody engineering, T-cell engagers (TCE), AthTAC, AthRiTAC, and oral peptides—and is committed to bringing more innovative therapies to patients worldwide.