Base to Base Biotech

This week, we talk about mitochondria and obesity with Jon Rees, co-founder and CEO of MitoRx Therapeutics, and also have a chat with Apeximmune Therapeutics’ CEO and founder Li-Fen Lee, and senior director of biology Kan Lu, about a new breakthrough in shrinking tumours.
Times:
03:11 MitoRx Therapeutics
25:06 Apeximmune Therapeutics
MitoRx Therapeutics
MitoRx Therapeutics is developing new treatments to restore healthy mitochondrial metabolism in patients living with high-risk obesity. Its first-in-class small molecule asset, MTRX31, targets the elimination of ectopic fat in people with metabolically unhealthy obesity, by restoring mitochondrial health rather than suppressing appetite.
Preclinical data for MTRX31 has shown superior magnitude, quality and durability of weight loss compared with tirzepatide in an industry-standard preclinical model of obesity. MTRX31-driven weight loss does not involve lean mass loss, meaning basal metabolic rate is maintained – providing durable, healthy weight loss.
The company recently presented new preclinical data at the EASD conference recently..
Apeximmune Therapeutics
Apeximmune Therapeutics, Inc. is an IND-stage biotechnology company in South San Francisco focused on developing novel immunotherapies for patients who do not respond to existing immune checkpoint inhibitors.
The company applies proprietary computational target discovery to identify mechanistically distinct immune checkpoints with the potential to expand the reach of immuno-oncology. The company recently saw its research published in Nature with a piece entitled “PLA2G2D in tumour-draining lymph nodes regulates anti-tumour immunity.”
The publication validated PLA2G2D as a novel and mechanistically distinct immune checkpoint capable of addressing resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy. The publication represents the convergence of two independent research programmes – one led by Apeximmune, the other by researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands – that arrived at the same target using different approaches.
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This week, we chat with Ryan Beal, a cancer survivor and founder and CEO of Dyve Biosciences, about tumour acidity, and Gene Mack, president and CEO of Gain Therapeutics, about developing allosteric therapies, including taking Parkinson’s disease treatments beyond addressing symptoms.
Times:
03:03 Gain Therapeutics
25:48 Dyve Biosciences
Gain Therapeutics
Gain Therapeutics is developing next-generation allosteric therapies. Its lead drug candidate, rexaceract is currently being evaluated for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease with or without a GBA1 mutation in a phase 1b clinical trial.
Rexaceract has further potential in Gaucher’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Alzheimer’s disease. Also, it has multiple undisclosed preclinical assets targeting lysosomal storage disorders, metabolic diseases, and solid tumours.
Its approach enables the discovery of novel, allosteric small molecule modulators that can restore or disrupt protein function. Deploying its Magellan platform, Gain is accelerating drug discovery and unlocking novel disease-modifying treatments for untreatable or difficult-to-treat disorders including neurodegenerative diseases, rare genetic disorders and oncology.
Dyve Biosciences
Ryan Beal, a cancer survivor and founder and CEO of Dyve Biosciences, invented a first-of-its-kind therapy that delivers sodium bicarbonate through the skin to target tumour acidity throughout the body. The therapy is designed to address a key limitation of earlier efforts, which relied on delivering large amounts of buffering agents orally.
In preclinical research with Moffitt Cancer Center, DYV800 made tumours substantially less acidic, restored T-cell activity, slowed tumour growth and improved survival. The findings were recently published in Frontiers in Immunology, and the next step is bringing the therapy to patients.
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This week, we chat with Simon Mølgaard, co-founder and chief executive officer of Teitur Trophics about results from its Parkinson’s disease trial, and have a conversation with Jordi Fàbrega, co-founder and CEO of CONNECTA Therapeutics, and Josep Prous, co-founder and chief scientific officer, about Fragile X syndrome.
Times:
03:15 Teitur Trophics
14:03 CONNECTA Therapeutics
Teitur Trophics
Teitur Trophics recently announced successful results from its phase I clinical trial of its lead asset TT-P34 in healthy volunteers and patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD).
The positive results support plans to initiate a phase II trial in PD patients in 2027, which will be designed to explore the therapeutic benefit and disease modifying potential of TT-P34.
TT-P34 is a first-in-class therapy that, through a dual mechanism of action, improves both mitochondrial and lysosomal function. Its unique mode of action, targeting a critical pathway that underpins multiple aspects of pathology, means TT-P34 also has potential as a disease-modifying drug for other neurodegenerative conditions including frontotemporal dementia and Huntington’s disease.
CONNECTA
CONNECTA Therapeutics is a Barcelona-based clinical-stage biotech company developing first-in-class neuroplasticity modulators for central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
The company recently announced a €3.1m financing to support the advancement of CTH120, CONNECTA's lead programme for Fragile X syndrome (FXS), including completion of the ongoing phase IIa clinical trial in adult males with FXS, with topline data expected in mid-2027.
The financing comes at a key stage for the company as it works to address the underlying neurobiology of FXS, a rare and currently untreatable neurodevelopmental disorder, through its differentiated neuroplasticity modulation platform.
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This week, we chat with Lucas Decuypere, CEO and president of Allegro, about treatment of knee osteoarthritis with a nanotechnology injection, and Elin Trampe, the CEO of Dicot Pharma, a company developing a new form of erectile dysfunction treatment.
Times:
01:46 Dicot Pharma
17:21 Allegro
Allegro
Allegro is a Belgium-based biomedical company which recently announced statistically significant improvements in pain and function in a 30-patient study of hydrocelin, a first-in-class nanotechnology injection for knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Rather than lubricating the joint like existing injectables such as hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids, hydrocelin uses cross-linked microparticles designed to physically restore the shock-absorbing mechanics of synovial fluid, thereby targeting a proposed root cause of OA rather than just masking symptoms.
Separately, Allegro just completed enrolment in a parallel European feasibility trial two months ahead of schedule. Topline safety/tolerability data are expected in H2 2026 and will inform a planned global registrational study.
Dicot Pharma
Dicot Pharma is developing the first innovation to erectile dysfunction in last 30 years. Virtually nothing has happened since Viagra and Cialis were introduced.
The company has recently been given the green light to start its phase IIb trials in the US, and trials are about to start in the EU, too.
The drug, LIB-01 has a completely different mode of action, which means a wider group of men can take it. Taking three pills means the drug will work spontaneously for eight weeks, meaning couples do not need to plan anything.
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This week, we chat with Evan Appleton, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Intertwined, a company focused on understanding mammalian evolved protective traits, and how they can be transferred to humans. And we chat with Lew Bender, CEO of Intensity Therapeutics, which is pioneering an intratumoral injection therapy primarily for breast cancer that not only kills the cancer cells in the tumour but throughout the body as well, acting as almost a cancer-killing vaccine.
Times:
04:22 Intertwined
29:06 Intensity Therapeutics
Intensity Therapeutics
Intensity is a late-stage clinical biotech company whose novel engineered chemistry enables aqueous cytotoxic-containing drug formulations to mix and saturate a tumour's dense, high-fat, pressurised environment following direct intratumoral injection.
Its clinical trials have demonstrated the ability of INT230-6 to kill tumours and elicit an adaptive immune response within days of injection, representing a new approach to cancer cell death that holds the potential to shift the treatment paradigm and turn many deadly cancers into chronic diseases, even for malignancies that do not respond to conventional immunotherapy.
Intensity has completed two clinical studies: a phase 1/2 dose-escalation study in metastatic cancers including sarcomas, and a phase 2 randomised controlled clinical trial in locally advanced breast cancer in women without undergoing chemotherapy prior to their surgery.
Intertwined
Evolution has led to species developing in different ways. Hundreds of millions of years of evolution have produced animals that resist diseases humans still struggle to treat. The mechanisms are already there - in their cells, in their DNA.
Intertwined Biosciences is using those “blueprints” to decode disease-resistance mechanisms from the world’s most resilient animals and engineer them into human immune cells - powered by the company’s Virtual Immune Cell model.
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