FogPharma^®, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to delivering a new class of therapies that go beyond the limits of currently available medicines using its Helicon™ peptide platform, and ARTBIO, Inc. (“ARTBIO”), a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing a new class of ²¹²Pb alpha radioligand therapies (ARTs), announced a collaboration to co-develop Helicon-enabled ARTs (HEARTs) to transform outcomes for patients with multiple types of cancer.

ARTBIO and FogPharma will co-develop novel HEARTs against multiple targets, leveraging FogPharma’s field-leading Helicon platform of tunable stabilized α-helical peptides and ARTBIO’s AlphaDirect™ platform for the development of ARTs using the best-in-class isotope, ²¹²Pb. ARTs with ²¹²Pb have the ideal clinical profile due to a short half-life that delivers maximal energy into tumors with high stability and the ability to image with SPECT/CT. The synergy of these two powerful platforms offers promising potential to create next-generation ARTs with properties ideal for precise delivery to tumors.

“Our AI-enabled Helicon platform provides an unprecedented level of chemical flexibility and diversity for modifying the crucial chemical and biological properties of peptides, a capability that we have leveraged to address previously undruggable protein:protein interactions inside the cell. We are thrilled to begin our collaboration with ARTBIO, wherein we extend the use of our Helicons to bind extracellular proteins and use our Helicons to finely tune distribution and elimination properties, paving the way for a new safe and effective category of targeted radioligand therapy,” stated Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of FogPharma. “Our aim is to revolutionize outcomes for cancer patients in critical need.”

“Alpha radioligand therapy, and ²¹²Pb in particular, has shown tremendous promise as a new class of radiopharmaceuticals. This collaboration with FogPharma enables ARTBIO to advance next-generation therapeutics specifically designed to treat solid tumors,” said Emanuele Ostuni, Ph.D., CEO of ARTBIO. “FogPharma has a shared vision of radically changing the current treatment paradigms for cancers, and together we will fuse science, technology, and collective passion to improve patient outcomes.”

The partners will contribute equally to the collaboration across research, development and commercialization phases; additional financial terms are undisclosed.