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Receptor BioLogix’s lead pre-clinical molecules are the Hermodulins. Based on bioengineered components of members of the EGF receptor family, these compounds bind the ligand signaling molecules that normally activate these receptors. This so-called “ligand trap” approach has been used successfully by other companies to develop drugs, including the blockbuster Enbrel® (Amgen) to treat autoimmune disease.
Hermodulins are unique molecules designed by Receptor BioLogix to trap essentially all of the ligands that activate the four members of the HER subfamily of RTK cell receptors. The company is the first to take this “pan-HER” therapeutic approach. A target for the breast cancer drug Herceptin® (Genentech), the well-known HER2 receptor is over-expressed in a virulent form of the disease. In HER2-positive tumors, this receptor triggers a cascade of signals that cause their cells to replicate uncontrollably, develop resistance to chemotherapy, and encourage the growth of blood vessels that promote the tumors to spread. More aggressive disease occurs when additional members of the HER subfamily are simultaneously activated. Hermodulins block activation of multiple members of the HER subfamily by trapping the ligands that activate them.
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