Spima Therapeutics starts with global licence agreement

Montpellier-based start up SPIMA Therapeutics SA has signed a global exclusive license agreement with the tech-transfer specialist SATT AxLR for its lead drug programme, SPM001, a peptidic inhibitor of the Myddsome complex MyD88. The Myddosome is an oligomeric complex that is required to transmit inflammatory signals from TLR/IL1Rs and consists of MyD88 and IRAK family kinases. Its oligomerisation is dependent on OTUD5. According to the company, SPM001 has the potential to address severe immunological disorders and aggressive cancers characterised by MyD88 mutations. Before the agreement, SATT AxLR had already invested around €1m to develop SPM001 and, as part of the license agreement, is committed to providing additional funding that will cover all costs of upcoming preclinical studies. No financial details have been published. In general, the preclinical development costs for small molecules and biology are between €6m-€7m and take up to two years.

“We are thrilled to partner with SPIMA Therapeutics to bring this promising therapy to the forefront of medicine,” said Philippe Nérin, President of SATT AxLR. “This project has benefited from an investment of nearly €1m from SATT AxLR and support from our incubator, the TTF Factory programme. SPIMA’s  team, combined with our financial and operational resources, has the potential to make a significant impact on patients’ lives and turn this academic innovation into a commercial success.”

In April 2024, SPIMA Therapeutics was co-founded by Prof. Christian Jorgensen, Prof. Jean Martinez, Mohamed Haitham Ayad, RPh, Ph.D. (CEO), Dr. Florence Apparailly, Dr. Muriel Amblard, and Swiss Landmark BioVentures AG (LBV), an integrated and agile biotech hub-and-spoke company. SPIMA benefits from strong links with two institutes that support ongoing cutting-edge research, namely the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy (IRMB), led by Prof. Christian Jorgensen, and the Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM), founded by Prof. Jean Martinez. The company is based at the IHU Immun4cure, a University Hospital Center of Excellence specialising in systemic autoimmune diseases. This location provides SPIMA with access to world-class translational and clinical resources. SPIMA also collaborates with the laboratory of Dr. Florence Apparailly, a recognized expert in rheumatology and the development of targeted immunotherapies, at IRMB. Additionally, SPIMA maintains close ties with the laboratory of Dr. Muriel Amblard, a leading expert in the design and synthesis of peptide-based drugs, at IBMM. SPIMA Therapeutics is also the first start-up to emerge from the Immun4Cure IHU, supported by the Montpellier University Hospital, the University of Montpellier, and INSERM.

SPM001, SPIMA’s lead candidate, targets the Myddosome complex, a key untapped actor in the dysregulated innate inflammatory process. Demonstrating exceptional drug-like properties, SPM001 holds the potential to become a first-in-class treatment for severe immunological disorders and aggressive cancers driven by MyD88 mutation. SPIMA Therapeutics describes its technology as “locking peptides into their bioactive α-helical conformation through site-specific introduction of a chemical brace.”