Myriamed and Ksilink found Myrtil Biotechnologies
07.07.2022 11:31
In June, the Ksilink association and myriamed GmbH founded Myrtil Biotechnologies, a company based in Strasbourg, France, that will develop next-generation drugs to treat dilated cardiomyopathy.
As part of a long-term collaboration, Ksilink and myriamed have jointly developed and validated a model of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which will now be exploited by the newly founded joint venture “Myrtil Biotechnologies”.
Indication: DCM is a life-threatening disease in which the heart enlarges and can no longer pump blood effectively. Approximately one in 2,500 people are affected, although the disease usually begins in middle age and the five-year survival rate is just 50 %. The heritable forms of DCM are caused by a number of disease-causing mutations, the most common being a C-terminal truncation of the TTN gene, called titin-truncating variants (TTNtvs). Despite enormous research and development efforts, there is currently no disease-modifying treatment option in the clinic. Traditional research to discover novel drugs relies largely on biochemical tests and animal models that do not accurately reflect human physiology. Ksilink and myriamed have seized the opportunity to reinvent drug research with novel technologies around human stem cells, cell differentiation techniques, tissue engineering and high-content imaging in conjunction with image and data analysis based on artificial intelligence (AI).
With this goal of revolutionizing the therapeutic options for DCM patients, myriamed and Ksilink say they want to pursue a precision medicine approach in which human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes expressing a TTNtv mutation are used in 2D and 3D heart models become. Titin (TTN) is the largest human protein that plays a central role in heart muscle function. Heterozygous TTNtv mutations are commonly found in DCM patients. Myrtil Biotechnologies combines myriamed's expertise in heart disease modeling with Ksilink's ability to functionalize complex cellular models for drug discovery. The latest high-content imaging methods are used in conjunction with AI-supported image and data analysis tools to identify innovative drug candidates and develop them into disease-modifying therapies.
“We are very proud of this productive partnership,” says Alain Beretz, President of the Ksilink association. “Patient-based disease modeling for drug discovery, supported by AI-powered image analysis, has been a strategic focus of the association since Ksilink was founded in 2014. Myrtil Biotechnologies will benefit from the strong network of excellence of our German-French association, which has outstanding capacities to develop the most valuable active ingredients for next-generation medicine.”
“We are pleased that our skills and capacities for replicating dilated cardiomyopathy in our innovative cardiomyocyte and heart muscle models are now being used to identify precision drugs to combat heart failure,” explains Gunther Zimmermann, Managing Director of myriamed GmbH.
Antoine de Lacombe, CEO of Ksilink, makes it clear that investors and the pharmaceutical industry would be waiting for new approaches to enable the development of medicines that ultimately significantly improved patients' lives. “Myrtil Biotechnologies enters the stage with an excellent scientific and strategic background.”