Red Queen uses a novel antiviral
platform to create
pan-variant treatments for coronaviruses, influenza,
RSV, and other serious viral diseases, with recent clinical
validation in COVID-19 patients
Company operates with $55 million Series
A funding from ATP and a contract
with BARDA for preclinical development of a pan-influenza
therapeutic
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 6, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Existing and emerging viral threats endanger
all of us, but people with impaired immune systems are at
substantially greater risk. Apple Tree Partners (ATP),
a leader in life sciences venture capital, today unveiled Red
Queen Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company
developing novel antiviral treatments for the general population
and especially for immunocompromised patients who are at increased
risk of serious illness or death from common and emerging viral
pathogens.
![Red Queen logo Red Queen logo](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2475922/Red_Queen_logo_Black_Red.jpg)
Red Queen Therapeutics is co-founded by ATP and Loren Walensky, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical
School, Principal Investigator and Attending
Physician in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children's Hospital, and
Director of the Harvard/MIT M.D.-Ph.D.
Program. Red Queen is operating with a $55
million Series A commitment
from ATP. The company also has additional funding from
the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
(BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness
and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, specifically for preclinical development of a
pan-influenza therapeutic.
"As existing viruses circulate and spread and new viruses arise,
treating sick individuals and curtailing transmission in vulnerable
communities is an ever-present urgent medical need and public
health imperative," said Seth Harrison, M.D.,
Founder and Managing Partner of Apple Tree Partners
and Chair of the Board of Directors of Red Queen Therapeutics.
"With ATP support, Red Queen has successfully brought its
novel technology for rapidly designing and developing new
antivirals through clinical proof of concept, and we anticipate
continued strong progress of the company's programs in multiple
viral diseases."
Novel, versatile, rapid-response platform
Red Queen applies its novel stapled lipopeptide platform
technology to rapidly design and develop new antiviral therapies.
The platform's specific mechanism of fusion inhibition represents a
new mode of early intervention that offers the following important
advantages over available antiviral therapies or vaccines:
- Inhibiting viral fusion blocks viral entry, thus preventing or
slowing host-cell infection and accelerating viral clearance.
- A single fusion-inhibiting lipopeptide agent can work against
multiple variants and even across viruses within a family.
- The fusion-inhibiting mechanism acts on the virus itself and is
not dependent on a well-functioning host immune system.
"Red Queen's stapled lipopeptides act on the core fusion
machinery of the virus, which is highly conserved across variants.
This mechanism enables sustained activity against emerging variants
and makes Red Queen therapies well-suited not only for
individualized care in high-risk patients but also stockpiling and
rapid deployment for population-level interventions," said
Mark Mitchnick, M.D., Chief
Executive Officer of Red Queen Therapeutics and a Venture Partner
at ATP. "Our platform technology has demonstrated its
potential for activity across many families of viruses, and we have
refined our capabilities to a point where we can
customize lipopeptides in weeks. We are excited by both the
broad and ready utility of the platform and the therapeutic promise
of the product candidates it produces. We just completed a very
promising Phase 1 trial of our SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic and are in
discussions around the Phase 2, and we have a robust pipeline."
Earlier this year, Nature Communications published
preclinical data from the Walensky Lab showing that stapled
lipopeptides successfully blocked infection by a broad spectrum of
SARS-CoV-2 variants, and prevented and mitigated disease in
hamsters, including decreasing viral transmission.i The
publication demonstrated how stapled lipopeptides foiled the fusion
mechanism used by enveloped viruses responsible for severe illness
and mortality, including SARS, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),
and Nipah, with application to many more. "Our aim is to address
the unmet need for convenient, on-demand medicines
to prevent and treat COVID-19 and other viral diseases,
with the goal of avoiding infection before or after exposure –
particularly for those
immunocompromised individuals who cannot respond
effectively to vaccines or tolerate other
regimens," said Dr. Walensky, who is senior author of the
study.
Proof-of-concept clinical trial results
Red Queen presented Phase 1 clinical data for its lead program
RQ-01 on June 16, 2024, at the
American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Microbe
annual meeting.ii The study enrolled 67
mildly symptomatic COVID-19-positive patients at low risk for
progression to moderate-to- severe disease who were randomized to
receive treatment once daily for three days with placebo (n=21),
RQ-01 5 mg (n=24), or RQ-01 10 mg (n=22), all administered with a
nasal spray device. More than 25 Omicron variants were observed
across the study subjects, and more than 80 percent of subjects had
previously been vaccinated against and/or infected with
SARS-CoV-2.
Results demonstrated placebo-like safety and a consistent
dose-dependent trend for RQ-01 to completely clear SARS-CoV-2
infection more rapidly than in untreated patients by day five after
three days of dosing. RQ-01 was well tolerated and was not
systemically absorbed after nasal administration. The trend for
more rapid clearance of viral shedding in the RQ-01 treated groups,
while not statistically significant in this small Phase 1 trial
powered for safety rather than efficacy, was consistent across
multiple analyses and confirmed the activity of RQ-01 in inhibiting
the progression of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
"These Phase 1 results validate the Red Queen platform by
showing that we can rapidly identify, develop
and formulate our stapled lipopeptide fusion
inhibitors and deliver them in clinically relevant doses, and that
the mechanism of action can clear virus quickly
and appears safe,"
said Paul Da Silva Jardine,
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
of Red Queen Therapeutics and a Venture Partner
at ATP.
BARDA-supported pan-influenza program
BARDA recently awarded Red Queen a contract under its Easy
Broad Agency Announcement (EZ-BAA) program to develop a
pan-influenza virus fusion inhibitor for rapid response to flu
outbreaks. Preclinical data from Red Queen's pan-influenza program
is anticipated to read out in 2025.
About Red Queen Therapeutics
Red Queen Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology
company co-founded by Apple Tree Partners (ATP) and
biomedical researcher Loren
Walensky, M.D., Ph.D., is applying its proprietary stapled
lipopeptide technology to develop and deliver new treatments
for a broad range of viruses, including coronaviruses, influenzas,
and other enveloped viruses. The Red Queen platform mechanism of
action, fusion inhibition, is a mode of early intervention that can
prevent or mitigate viral infection, enabling accelerated viral
clearance and avoidance of severe disease. Because Red Queen
therapies target the highly conserved mechanism of viral fusion,
they can be used across entire viral families and their variants.
And because Red Queen's agents do not depend upon immune system
activation, they offer instantaneous protection and are
particularly suitable for use by immunocompromised people.
Red Queen's stapled lipopeptide therapeutics are also designed
to be shelf-stable at room temperature and can be formulated and
delivered in multiple ways, including topically by nasal spray or
inhaler, or systematically by injection. For more information,
visit redqueentx.com.
About Apple Tree Partners
Apple Tree Partners (ATP) is a leader in life sciences
venture capital, with a 25-year track record of translating
emerging scientific advances into novel innovative
treatments. ATP creates companies starting
at various stages, from
pre-IP ideas to asset spinouts, investing in
them from seed stage through IPO and beyond. The core
of ATP's strategy is providing flexible capital and access to
a world-class team, to build sustainable, research-driven
enterprises that deliver therapeutics to improve human lives. For
more information, visit appletreepartners.com.
i Bird, G.H., Patten, J.J., Zavadoski, W., et
al. A stapled lipopeptide platform for preventing and
treating highly
pathogenic viruses of pandemic potential. Nat Commun 15, 274
(2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44361-1
ii Kottilli, S., Kenaston, K., Da Silva Jardine,
P., et al. Phase 1 Study of Intranasal Fusion Inhibitor RQ-01 for
the Treatment of COVID-19. Poster presented at American
Society for Microbiology; 16 June
2024; Atlanta, GA.
https://redqueentx.com/posters/2024-June-RQ-ASM-POSTER.pdf
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SOURCE Red Queen Therapeutics