OVERVIEW
Kineta, Inc. is developing an array of new drug candidates designed to restore the immune system to normal function. We are designing novel, next generation medicines to respond to the needs of millions of people facing disease around the world. Our products will also respond to the tremendous demand from the pharmaceutical industry for high quality drug candidates. We anticipate a robust market for our products and eventually, strong demand from patients and healthcare providers.
Kineta's drug development programs are concentrated in two critically important areas: treatments for autoimmune diseases and treatments for viral diseases. In both realms, Kineta's novel drug targets spring from global expertise in the field of human immunity. Kineta is advancing entirely new classes of drugs that tap into powerful, recently discovered cellular channels that control the body's defense mechanisms. Our scientists believe these future therapies will be more effective, more tolerable and have fewer side effects because they work in concert with the immune system.
PRECLINICAL
ShK - 186 : A Novel Compound for Multiple Sclerosis, Type 1 Diabetes and Other Autoimmune Diseases
Key Program Features:
ShK-186 is Kineta's lead preclinical drug candidate focused on multiple autoimmune diseases. Our company is initially developing it for multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes mellitus, but in later phases it may also target other autoimmune diseases such as: rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis as well as less commonly known "orphan diseases."
Kineta acquired the rights to develop ShK-186 from Airmid Corporation and the University of California, Irvine in July of 2009. Our scientific review team selected it above hundreds of other programs examined because in preclinical studies ShK-186 demonstrated the capacity to significantly reverse multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis in animal models. The data also showed a solid safety profile and very low side effects or immunosuppression.
rOAS1: A Novel Drug Candidate for Influenza, Hepatitis C and Other Viral Diseases
Key Program Features:
- First-in-Class Immunotherapeutic for Viral Diseases
- Discovered and Developed by Kineta scientific team (as Illumigen Biosciences)
- Variant of a naturally occurring protein inherent in the human immune system
- Answers extraordinary global need for new and better antiviral therapies
rOAS1 is Kineta's novel, recombinant, antiviral protein drug candidate focused on viral diseases. It has demonstrated broad activity against multiple viruses among them influenza, hepatitis C, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other high need diseases. The compound differs from current drug therapies because it does not target the virus, rather it is directed at the immune system of the host, empowering and boosting the innate human response to prevail. Existing therapies have become less effective because viruses are so adept at mutating. We believe our approach provides reduced risk of drug resistance and greater potential for therapeutic success.
rOAS1 is designed to be administered to patients in hospital suffering acute influenza; the highest risk individuals are infants, elderly and immune-compromised patients. The drug candidate has demonstrated a high degree of tolerability and safety in animal models. rOAS-1 has completed IND enabling studies and is poised to begin phase 1 clinical trials. Kineta acquired the development license to rOAS1 from Cubist Pharmaceuticals in October 2010.
DISCOVERY SCIENCE
The RIG-I Pathway: Leading to New Therapies for Fighting Deadly Diseases
Key Program Features:
Kineta is developing several drug candidates that activate a natural disease-fighting mechanism within the immune system. It is known as the retinoic acid inducible gene I protein, or RIG-I. The gene is active in most cells in the body and is now known to be a critical element of the innate - or first responder - immune response. Our research is focused on the development of broad based antiviral products and is intended to target a wide range of infectious diseases - from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a disease that primarily afflicts infants - to influenza (including the H1N1 strain), hepatitis C, West Nile virus and HIV/AIDS.
Utilizing a proprietary screening platform, Kineta scientists have identified numerous compounds capable of influencing RIG-I and stimulating it to turn on natural infection-fighting immune functions. We anticipate such a drug would be more effective than present therapies, less toxic and less likely to cause virus mutation and resistance.
Kineta scientists are also utilizing the RIG-I platform for the development of vaccine adjuvants (agents that enhance vaccines). This work is occurring in concert with the University of Washington and is funded through a $6.8 million subcontract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Kineta subcontract is part of a larger $13 million award to the University of Washington. The adjuvant program is potentially applicable to both preventative and therapeutic vaccines with tremendous humanitarian and market potential.
