Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • July 10, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com UConn biologist takes new tack against herpes virus By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com H erpes is more common than you might think. The virus' various forms affect most people, though they are often unaware. Herpes can remain dormant in healthy people but sometimes lead to serious or fatal conditions in infants or those with weak immune systems. While there are no cures for the various forms of herpes, antiviral drugs do exist to curb its effects but there is a con- stant search for new remedies. Among the researchers searching for answers is UConn Health biologist Sandra Weller, who chairs UConn's molecular biology and biophysics depart- ment. Her lab is researching treatments for a form of her- pes called Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, which can cause serious problems in newborns, includ- ing developmental disabilities and deafness, as well as infec- tions in organ and marrow transplant patients. It's estimat- ed that more than half of adults have been infected with CMV by age 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An antiviral drug does exist to treat CMV patients — Ganciclovir — but some can build a resistance to it and the drug can also cause kidney problems. Weller spent decades researching treatments for the more well-known genital herpes virus, but she shifted gears recently at the urging of a fledgling state-backed pro- gram called PITCH (Program in Innovative Therapeutics), launched by Yale and UConn to facilitate collaboration among researchers and venture capitalists and to speed promising drug compounds into the commercial pipeline. "We consider [CMV] as having a larger unmet clinical need," Weller said in a recent interview. She and her team are targeting a particular protein that is believed to be essential for CMV to replicate itself. The goal is to find a natural or synthetic com- pound that can restrain the protein and prevent dor- mant CMV infections from reactivating. Weller is working with Yale's Center for Molecular Discovery because the school has a large library of drug molecules and enough capacity to work on multiple projects. Last month, researchers at that lab began running a series of tests on Weller's targeted protein using high-end equipment in a process called "high throughput screening." At the conclusion of their work, Yale researchers will tell Weller which compounds reacted with the tar- geted protein. The screening services provided by Yale aren't cheap. Weller would have had to seek funding to pay for them if it weren't for PITCH, which received $10 million in late 2015 from the Connecticut Bioscience Fund, administered by Connecticut Innovations. The technology originated at pharmaceutical companies and started becoming more common in higher education 20 years ago. Market potential While Yale could vastly nar- row down the list of potential promising compounds, their findings won't be quite ready for prime time. From there the work will shift back to UConn, where Dennis Wright, a professor of medicinal chemistry and co- founder of PITCH, will assess the compounds and tweak their structures with the aim of making them more potent drug candidates. "It's about starting to put together a package of data that would make a compelling case to investors looking for an early stage opportunity," Wright said. Weller has already formed a company called Quercus. Her younger brother Brad Weller, an attorney who has worked for public companies, is CEO. Should her research progress far enough, Quercus would license the intellectual property from UConn. If she gets an antiviral drug to market, Connecticut Innovations would receive royalty payments for its investment. There are several big pharmaceutical com- panies in phase 3 trials for CMV drugs, though they are targeting different proteins, Weller said. Because CMV is a more complex strain of the herpes virus, Weller is hoping that whatever she develops might also be effective against other, simpler forms. She likens members of the virus to cars. They all have the same core parts, but some, like CMV, have added features. "It's got a sunroof and a retractable antenna," she said. That makes CMV harder to work with, but offers a potentially more promising payoff. n FOCUS BIOSCIENCE Q&A Bioscience entrepreneur Hellsund's latest startup targets cancer research Q&A talks to Per Hellsund, president & CEO of New Haven-based Cybrexa Therapeutics, which recently raised $6 million to advance its cancer research. Q: You've become a serial biotech entrepreneur of sorts having previ- ously founded and then sold for $195 million Wallingford biochemical test maker CyVek. Now your latest biotech ven- ture, Cybrexa Therapeutics in New Haven, recently raised $6 million. What is Cybrexa Ther- apeutics and how did the com- pany's founding come about? A: After the acqui- sition of CyVek, Kevin Didden, Kevin Rakin and I decided to get together to start anoth- er company. As we did with CyVek, we put up some seed money and started a company with the objective of identifying an excit- ing and investable business opportunity. So we started from scratch. My role was to look at opportuni- ties that fit our criteria and model for build- ing successful start- ups. One of the key things we look for is the right tech- nical talent that we can combine with an experienced CEO, along with an unmet need, and certain market characteristics, etc. We looked at over a dozen opportunities to pursue. Eventual- ly, Rakin introduced me to a rising star at Yale, Ranjit Bindra, and his colleague Peter Glazer, both doc- tors, Ph.D.'s and experts in the area of DNA repair. They had an idea to combine a cancer tumor targeting technology discovered at Yale with a class of drugs called DNA repair inhibitors. The objective is to cre- ate a new class of drugs that direct- ly target cancer tumors while spar- ing normal tissue, thereby making the drugs more effective with far fewer side effects. Q: Is this Cybrexa's first outside investment? What will the $6 million in new funding allow the company to do? A: We started with some seed money that was used to develop the business plan and secure licensing for the tumor target- ing technology. The $6 million is being used to build out our facility in New Haven, recruit the startup team and develop a proof of concept model. I am very fortunate in that I work with a team of very suc- cessful entrepreneurs who have provided very good returns to investors so there is a lot of inves- tor interest in our startups. Unlike most startup entre- preneurs, I spend very little time and energy raising money, which allows me to focus on building the business. The funding that we have raised to date has come from private investors, Connecticut Innovations, and an investment vehicle of Rakin's HighCape Part- ners venture fund. Q: What's the short- and long- term business strat- egy for Cybrexa Therapeutics? A: The short-term strategy is to prove out the technology and then move one drug candidate into a phase 1 human trial. Longer term, we plan to devel- op a portfolio of drugs based on our tumor- targeting technology that addresses a num- ber of different cancer indications. We will also likely partner with large phar- ma companies to move some of these into later-stage clinical trials and through to commercialization. Q: What are the biggest challenges the company faces in developing its technology from the lab to market? A: I think the honest answer is that we don't know. We are at an early stage in the development and we have mapped out a plan, but we won't know where the real problems are until we are further down the road. Technology devel- opment is difficult and unpredict- able, so I'm certain we will run into problems, but it will probably be something we haven't considered. Q: What key lessons did you take away in starting up and eventually selling CyVek that will help you in develop- ing Cybrexa? A: Work continuously on hiring the right people, and removing the ones that are not a good fit; create the right culture where people are passionate about the company's mission; stay disciplined and focused; put energy into building a great product and a great com- pany (not selling the company) and good things will happen. PER HELLSUND President & CEO, Cybrexa Therapeutics ▶ ▶ ' It's about starting to put together a package of data that would make a compelling case to investors looking for an early stage opportunity.' Dennis Wright, a professor of medicinal chemistry and co-founder of PITCH Sandra Weller, chair of UConn Health's molecular biology and biophysics department, is using state-funded molecular screening services to identify potential treatments for the herpes virus. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D Continued

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