Find Therapeutics, a new drug development company dedicated to breakthrough therapies against rare diseases launches in Montreal
June 08 2020
The new company raises initial capital to develop transmembrane peptides against GPCRs to address high unmet needs.
Montreal, Canada – June 8, 2020: CTI Life Sciences, along with partners adMare BioInnovations, Domain Therapeutics and PeptiMimesis Pharma, have come together to establish a new Montreal-based drug discovery and development company, Find Therapeutics, dedicated to the development of the next generation of GPCR allosteric modulators to treat rare diseases.
Now being launched with seed funding from CTI Life Sciences, adMare BioInnovations and Domain Therapeutics, and with an initial focus on inflammatory and fibrotic diseases of the airways, liver and gastrointestinal systems, Find Therapeutics is based on a set of novel technologies that capitalize on deciphering disease-modifying GPCR pharmacology: modulation by transmembrane peptides, precise ligand signalling, disease-contextual cellular systems and advanced molecular design. GPCRs represent one of the most important druggable target classes, yet their full potential remains underexploited due to poor understanding of their cellular signalling.
“We are very excited about building this new company based on an innovative approach to discover transmembrane GPCR drugs. We believe this approach will enable the discovery of new therapies that we will first apply to rare disease indications,” said Dr. Laurence Rulleau Partner, CTI Life Sciences Fund, and President, Find Therapeutics. “We are also very proud of this partnership with members of the life science ecosystem bringing together multiple talents.”
Find Therapeutics sourced an original transmembrane peptide-based-technology developed by PeptiMimesis Pharma in France, and a first transmembrane peptide product discovered at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The company will also benefit from bioSens-AllTM, a proprietary GPCR technology platform of Domain Therapeutics, operated by its Montreal-based site, which revolves around the spatiotemporal monitoring of GPCR proximal events directly linked to GPCR activation. The result is a unique drug discovery engine that forms the foundation of Find Therapeutics.
Gordon C. McCauley, President and Chief Executive Officer of adMare BioInnovations, commented, “As Canada’s global life sciences venture, an essential part of adMare’s mission is to source therapeutically and commercially promising research from leading academic and biotech partners to create new companies of scale. This global partnership is an excellent example of how our model of collaboration is advancing new therapeutics and driving the growth of our Canadian life sciences industry.”
“We are extremely pleased by the creation and financing of Find Therapeutics, which will use two technologies, developed under the leadership of Domain Therapeutics in France and in Quebec, to discover a novel class of therapeutic agents for the benefit of the patients,” said Dr. Pascal Neuville, Chief Executive Officer of Domain Therapeutics. “As a major shareholder of PeptiMimesis Pharma, we are convinced that the transmembrane-peptide approach will be efficiently further developed in the rich biotech ecosystem of Montreal, a region which holds very valuable actors in the field – and the incorporation of Find Therapeutics is a nice illustration of this dynamic.”
Dr. Marjorie Sidhoum, Chief Executive Officer of PeptiMimesis added, “As the first developer of the GPCR transmembrane peptide technology, PeptiMimesis is glad to see the advancement of this innovative therapeutic approach pursued by Find Therapeutics. All PeptiMimesis stakeholders are very excited to join this endeavour.”
Dr. Youssef Bennani, Chief Scientific Officer of adMare BioInnovations, will also act as Find’s Interim Chief Executive Officer of the company. Dr. Bennani brings a solid experience in pharmaceutical R&D, as well as business acumen and corporate governance tenure (Chairman of the BOD at Domain Therapeutics, and Board member at Bellus Health). Trained as chemist, he most recently retired from Vertex Pharmaceuticals as Site Head and VP-R&D (Vertex Pharmaceuticals Canada), prior to which he had served as VP-Drug Innovation at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, MA. He also had tenures at Athersys, Abbott (now AbbVie) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals. He can be reached at ybennani@findtherapeutics.com.
Visit www.findtherapeutics.com for more details about Find Therapeutics.
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About CTI Life Sciences:
Based in Montreal, CTI Life Sciences Fund L.P. was created in 2006. The firm makes venture capital investments mostly in innovative high-quality biotech companies at the pre-clinical and clinical development stages, in North America, and primarily in Canada. Since its second mandate in 2014, CTI Life Sciences Fund manages $245 million of assets. www.ctisciences.com
About Domain Therapeutics:
Domain Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of new drug candidates targeting G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), one of the most important classes of drug targets. With teams at work in France and Canada, Domain operates multiple technologies aimed at validating targets and discovering first-in-class therapies (small molecules or antibodies), creates a pipeline of high-value programs in immuno-oncology, neurology and rare diseases which are developed as proprietary programs up to early clinical phases or in collaboration with pharma partners. www.domaintherapeutics.com
About adMare BioInnovations:
adMare BioInnovations is Canada’s Global Life Sciences Venture, building the Canadian life sciences industry from sea to sea. We do this by sourcing therapeutically and commercially promising research from leading academic and biotech partners to create new companies of scale, providing specialized expertise and infrastructure to help existing companies scale up, and driving the growth of those companies into Canadian anchors by training the next generation of highly-qualified personnel. www.adMarebio.com
About PeptiMimesis:
PeptiMimesis is a start-up company dedicated to the identification and development of peptide based therapeutic approach as allosteric modulators of membrane receptors such as RTK and GPCRs. Its proprietary technology acts via a cutting-edge mode of action and is originated from University of Strasbourg. PeptiMimesis made the demonstration of its added value particularly for the family of GPCR targets. www.peptimimesis.com
For additional information, please contact:
Shirley Robinet
Communications Coordinator
adMare BioInnovations
(438) 728-3400
srobinet@admarebio.com
Youssef Bennani
Chief Executive Officer
Find Therapeutics
(438) 399-0175
ybennani@findtherapeutics.com
