Maxwell Biosciences (“Maxwell»), a preclinical drug platform company focused on the development of synthetic compounds that mimic biomolecules known as biomimetic therapeutics, today announced data on its CLAROMER drug discovery platform’s treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2, and potentially other respiratory viruses, through a series of pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies. The CLAROMER drug discovery platform generates a family of novel compounds to precisely target infectious pathogens. CLAROMERS can exhibit improved stability and potency relative to natural peptides and are highly scalable to manufacture.
“This new data reaffirms the potential of CLAROMERS as a promising new class of broad-spectrum antiviral agents – not only for the treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 – but potentially for other enveloped respiratory viruses,” said Maxwell Biosciences CEO and Co-Founder Joshua McClure. “By targeting virus membranes and remaining well-tolerated in vivo, CLAROMERS may be able to retain these characteristics against current and future variants of concern. We look forward to advancing our platform in support of global public health needs like COVID-19.”
Data was presented by Maxwell Biosciences’ Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Inventor, Kent Kirshenbaum, PhD, on Thursday, September 29, 2022, at the Options for Control of Influenza (OPTIONS XI) conference. OPTIONS XI is being hosted by the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases (ISIRV) in Belfast, United Kingdom, from September 26-29, 2022. Data was presented under the abstract title, “CLAROMERS: Synthetic Oligomer Mimics of Antimicrobial Peptides for Treatment and Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses.”
Background on Study
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent a novel source of potential antiviral agents due to their ability to inactivate enveloped viruses via the disruption of their membrane structures. However, clinical introduction of AMPs as antimicrobials is hampered by several factors, including the susceptibility of peptides to proteolytic degradation in vivo. To circumvent this problem, Maxwell is developing its patented CLAROMERS, a family of N-substituted glycine peptoid oligomers. In addition to being resistant to proteases, these novel compounds also exhibit increased membrane permeability.