Phylogica tech reviewed in journal

A review of Perth-based Phylogica's (ASX:PYC) Phylomer technology has been published in the February issue of Nature Biotechnology.

"It is a further independent validation of our technology which helps our customers feel comfortable, we can refer them to these publications and see independently that it is generally accepted -- it makes their decision to deal with us easier," said Phylogica CEO Stewart Washer. "We see peer journals as a critical business tool, like our patents or our collaborative research agreements -- it is part of being in the scientific community."

The company describes Phylomers as unique kinds of peptide that have the potential to act as drugs by blocking a disease process at the protein level. Phylogica's proprietary libraries are collections of millions of Phylomers that represent a source of drug leads which can be used for multiple disease.

Phylogica has already discovered a number of drug leads from this technology against stroke, burns and other inflammatory diseases. Other companies are also looking to use Phylomer libraries to validate their drug targets.

In the Nature Biotechnology paper, Phylogica's scientific director, Paul Watt, explains how the technology is used to identify drug candidates.

"To find new Phylomer drug candidates we are searching the world's most diverse library of protein shapes, which is derived from ancient bacteria, called archaebacteria, that have evolved over millions of years," Watt said.

"We have patented this technology and are mining this biological resource intensively as it turns out to be very rich in active peptide drug candidates. To our knowledge we are the first company to look at the importance of the shape within such proteins as a source of drug leads, independent of their original function."

Washer said Phylogica's drug discovery program was progressing well. "We have a number of Australian and international collaborations, such as University of Melbourne in rheumatoid arthritis, and Fox Chase Cancer Centre in the US for novel inflammation and cancer targets," he said. "The company has positive data from Phylomers developed for stroke and burns treatments and is developing other Phylomer candidates for inflammatory diseases such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. We are building to the next piece of data.

"We are now doing further tests about how long after a stroke our drugs can reverse the damage -- that is the multi billion dollar question.

"The properties of Phylomers make them very attractive as cost-effective alternatives to antibodies -- the current gold standard biologicals. Phylomers are small proteins that are simple to manufacture, easy to deliver to patients and do not have any major royalty stacks associated with ownership of the technology. We own the Phylomer space."