Drug candidates designed to achieve optimal blockade of HLA to prevent autoimmune response while protecting its inherent function to confer normal immunity
HLA gene variants are well known for their role in triggering an autoimmune response in human disease. These HLA molecules such as HLA DQ8 (known for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease) and HLA DQ2 (celiac and other diseases) have specific clefts that bind native peptides such as insulin and α-gliadin that trigger the T cell attack on normal body function.
IMT designs oral drug molecules for optimal docking with the HLA protein to inhibit native antigen presentation and a trigger of an autoimmune response
We believe that the understanding of such errant HLA function, availability of 3-D crystal structures of HLA proteins and state-of-the-art computational models allow a targeted approach to develop small molecule drugs that can competitively bind the pockets for blockade of the autoimmune response.
We have successfully developed this paradigm for HLA DQ8 blockade by testing of more than 600 million drug combinations, assessing biological activity of in silico hits with specific in vitro assays and in vivo models and optimizing a lead drug IMT-002 for clinical development as a treatment for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.
We aim to pick one HLA at a time, apply our unique combination of in silico analysis, rational drug design and biological screening to develop first-of-its-kind oral therapies designed as targeted treatments for autoimmune diseases.