Biotimize’s Results: PHP Biotech

During the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) and BIO International conventions, our partner PHP Biotech released to the world its impressive in vitro results from the nanobody Pepcrotament that we are developing and manufacturing on their behalf. Pepcrotament enhances the production of the wild p53 structure and normal cells are not being damaged.

Pepcrotament history and action:

3-NAntC is derived from the Crotoxin Molecule and has been shown to be an innovative peptide that kills cancer cells with a very good safety profile. To provide stability to 3-NAntC, a humanized single-domain antibody was developed by PHP Biotech. By incorporating 3-NAntC into the paratope of PHP Biotech's newly developed nanobody, Pepcrotament was born, thus creating an innovative antibody with anticancer properties that has several advantages over traditionally used antibodies.

Pepcrotament binds to a membrane ligand, and it is internalized through a clathrinid coated vesicle. Inside the vesicle, Pepcrotament then is responsible for triggering a signal cascade that leads to endoplasmic reticulum stress and proteasome overload. These two events cause protein misfold accumulation, which results in enhanced production of the wild p53 structure. P53 is a potent tumor suppressor factor, and it is this protein that leads to tumor cell destruction.                                                                                               

Cell death is mediated through caspase-independent apoptosis, a programmed cell death that recruits the immune system and destroys the targeted cell. Remarkably, in vitro tests have shown that normal cells are not harmed, increasing the patient's chances of well-being during prolonged therapy treatment.

Watch the video about Pepcrotament's action here.

 Pepcrotament development and manufacturing:

Biotimize began working with PHP Biotech on the development of Pepcrotament over a year ago. Due to its innovative characteristic, Biotimize initiated its production across bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells to understand which expression platform would obtain the best results in terms of manufacturing and quality.

Despite positive expressions on all platforms, results with mammalian cells proved to be the most promising. For the next steps, Biotimize is now optimizing the expression titer and increasing the production scale to produce enough material for pre-clinical studies.

Moacyr Bighetti, PHP's Biotech’s Chairman of the Board of Directors was pleased with the decision to collaborate with Biotimize. “Being able to conduct this work with a locally established entity has enabled good communication and much needed flexibility over the course of the many weeks of product development. Working with Biotimize will accelerate the timeline to deliver material by many months and it will also be a comparably cost-effective solution”, commented Bighetti.