Malmö-based Cyxone develops immunomodulatory drugs for new treatments of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Under the new CEO Tara Heitners management, the company has increased its activities by, among other things, recruiting a Head of Development and engaging new scientific advisors.
Strengthened focus on drug development
In August, Cyxone presented Christin Arrhenius Bokedal as Head of Development, a role that means she will lead and coordinate the company's preclinical and clinical development programs with a focus on T20K, the company's MS candidate.
Christin has a pharmacy degree from Uppsala University and has extensive and diverse experience in drug development in several different roles, including Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Medical Affairs. She most recently came from Teva Sweden and will start his service at Cyxone in the fall.
»We see that Christin will bring great knowledge to the company through her broad expertise in project management, preclinical and clinical studies as well as her solid experience in medical information, registration processing and quality work. Her broad breadth in drug development combined with the ability to get things done without losing quality and focus will be a great asset to Cyxone, which is currently in an incredibly exciting development and growth phase« – Malin Berthold, COO Cyxone.
New scientific advisors
During the summer, Cyxone also announced that it had tied up with Dr. Maarten Kraan and professor Richard Holmdahl as senior scientific advisors for the development of the company's clinical pipeline. The first meetings have been held and both advisors have thus begun their assignments.
Maarten Kraan is a trained clinical immunologist and rheumatologist with extensive experience in RA. His academic career began at Leiden University where he also received his PhD. He has held several leading roles in preclinical and clinical drug development in several companies in Europe and the USA.
During the past decade, Maarten Kraan has also been active in Sweden by being responsible for drug development for iMed Respiratory at AstraZeneca in Mölndal. He has also held an adjunct professorship in rheumatology at University of Gothenburg, and since 2018 has been a board member of the listed companies Toleranzia and Vicore PharmaBioStock contacted Maarten Kraan to hear more about how he views his new assignment.
»There is still a considerable need for novel interventions with other mechanisms of action and I believe that Rabeximod is such an opportunity for the patients and physicians.« – Maarten Kraan
Maarten, you have a vast experience from several positions and companies within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry including experience from Sweden. What made you interested in being part of the scientific advisory board of Cyxone?
- The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been revolutionized over the past 3 decades from a rather passive approach to slow down disability to aggressive control of inflammation. This has changed the perspective for the patients completely and although we still cannot cure RA we can offer some patients an almost normal quality of life. This has been achieved partly because of structured disease monitoring and management but largely because of the development of very potent novel and innovative treatments by the pharmaceutical industry.
– This has also demonstrated that the disease is very heterogeneous and different treatments have different levels of efficacy. So, there is still a considerable need for novel interventions with other mechanisms of action and I believe that Rabeximod is such an opportunity for the patients and physicians.
What expectations do you have on the Rabeximod project and what will this project potentially contribute to the RA field?
– As mentioned previously we have had a revolution in the treatment of RA that started with the development of leflunomide and the TNF-blockers, this has taught us that we can achieve a very high level of disease control but has also taught us that we need different treatment options since not every patient responds the same and frequently patients become unresponsive during this lifelong disease. With Rabeximod we have demonstrated signs of efficacy in earlier clinical trials. I want to support Cyxone in their quest to bring Rabeximod to the RA patients who need it.
- Rabeximod has a unique mode of action compared to the currently available treatments for RA and the non-clinical data point towards inhibition of inflammatory macrophages. During my academic period I have learned that these macrophages are very important in the signs and symptoms of RA or, maybe even more importantly, are involved in the destruction of the joints. Hence stopping these cells should have a significant effect on the pain but also prevent disability.
How will Cyxone benefit from your experiences from big pharma and also as a board member in smaller companies such as Toleranzia and Vicore Pharma?
I have had the opportunity to work with the many stakeholders that are needed to take a new medicine for the treatment for RA from conception to market in both academia and industry on a variety of medicines. I have learned a lot about what was successful and of course what was not and I believe that I can support the Cyxone team in their journey with Rabeximod.
– As a board member of two small publicly traded biotech companies, I have learned to appreciate the differences with big pharmaceutical companies and am planning to use this knowledge to support the Cyxone team in creating a development path for Rabeximod that is effective and efficient for both them and a potential future partner.
Finally, you have also been involved in clinical research to treat the SARS-COV-2 virus, can you tell us more about that and could you apply that to your work with Cyxone?
- From the early days of my training as a clinician I have been curious about how viruses manipulate the immune system. I have worked in the industry on some HIV/AIDS drugs, so since SARS-COV-2 emerged and changed our lives I have been following the emerging science very closely with great interest. This was further enhanced by what we have learned from Vicore which has an active clinical trial in patients with SARS-COV-2 patients.
- When these trials were designed by the team there was a very close interaction with the scientific committee. As the chair of the committee, this allowed me to learn a lot about how the understanding of the SARS-COV-2 infection grew rapidly, as well as how the treatment landscape and measurement of the impact of the various treatment options evolved exponentially. Soon the very exciting step will arrive where we will have data to analyze the impact of the treatment on the clinical manifestations of the infection.
- So, I believe I will also be able to assist and advise Cyxone on the running of a SARS-COV-2 trial.
Professor Richard Holmdahl founded Medical Inflammatory Research vid Lunds university in 1993 after conducting research in immunology and autoimmune diseases at Uppsala University and abroad. In 2008, Holmdahl and his team were recruited to Karolinska Institutet and has continued to research in the field ever since. BioStock spoke with Rikard Holmdahl to get his perspective on Cyxone's operations in his role as Cyxone's new senior scientific advisor.
»Cyxone has taken up several projects that deeply interest me and that I would like to see realized as a treatment to benefit people with different kinds of inflammatory diseases« – Rikard Holmdahl
Rikard, you have an extensive academic record, but have also been appointed scientific advisor in several companies – what attracted you to Cyxone?
- Cyxone has taken up several projects that deeply interest me and that I would like to see realized as a treatment to benefit people with different kinds of inflammatory diseases.
Cyxone finalised the acquisition of Rabeximod in 2018 from OxyPharma, a project that you were part of developing in the early stages. Cyxone is currently preparing the candidate for another phase II clinical study, what makes Rabeximod stand out compared to existing therapies?
- It seems to target a critical cell and critical time phase in the development of arthritis that is not covered by current treatments. This makes it a unique therapy that might offer a novel treatment option preventing the damage caused to joints in arthritis.
Can you tell us more about your work in the early phase and your view on the project at this point?
- I became involved in this project to investigate its mechanism of action and possible applications. Rabeximod had been characterized mainly through a large number of vitro experiments but these did not reveal how it actually worked in vivo into an organism. Our approach was to study its effect in well-defined animal models and by doing this we could show its therapeutic efficiency, when it exerts its effect and the cells that are targeted.
– Our results showed that very basic mechanisms which are highly conserved between species were affected. The use of animal models was clearly critical for this project and opened the door to going further with clinical trials.
Finally, you will also be advising Cyxone regarding T20K, the MS drug candidate, what are your general views on the field, what medical needs do you think are the most pressing to fulfill regarding MS?
- MS is a disease that for a long time has lacked efficient treatments, but more recently several more specific antibody-based treatments have been introduced. A common problem here are unexpected side effects mainly related to virus infections due to the immunosuppressing effect of the treatments. Efficacious therapies with higher safety profiles are needed and T20K may offer efficacy with reduced side effects compared to current options.
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