Peptomyc – Developing a Myc inhibitor to treat cancer

About Peptomyc

Peptomyc is a spin-off from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) that is revolutionizing cancer treatment: we are the only company that uses mini-protein therapeutics to directly inhibit MYC – the central engine for cancer proliferation, survival, and resistance to treatment. Doing so, Peptomyc offers a foundational treatment to any cancer patient with abnormal MYC activity, improving patient’ survival and quality of life.

Peptomyc’s founders are Dr. Laura Soucek (the MYC KOL who designed Omomyc and used it to reveal the therapeutic window of MYC inhibition), Dr. Marie-Eve Beaulieu (the protein scientist who discovered the cell-penetrating properties of the Omomyc mini-protein), VHIO and ICREA (the research institutes where the company’s core technology was initially developed). The team has now grown to 15 employees and a solid network of advisors and collaborators to advance its ground-breaking projects.

For the first time, Peptomyc is able to effectively attack MYC, a most-wanted target in cancer treatment, using innovative and patented cell-penetrating mini-proteins deriving from Omomyc. After a successful phase I study demonstrating the safety and clinical activity of OMO-103 in all-comers, solid tumor patients – with results published in Nature Medicine (Feb 2024 https://rdcu.be/dHh3B)- Peptomyc has initiated a PDAC phase Ib trial in combination with SOC while boosting its pipeline and platform assets development.

Peptomyc envisions a future where cancer is no longer a devastating diagnosis, but a conquerable challenge. Through our proprietary MYC inhibitory mini-proteins, we aim to unlock novel therapeutic avenues addressing high unmet medical needs and reshaping the SoC.

Rationale and market opportunity

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second leading cause of death globally¹. In 2020, there were an estimated 19.3 million (M) new cases and 10M cancer deaths worldwide. In the European Union (EU), 2.7 million (M) people were diagnosed with the disease, and 1.3M lost their lives to it².

Current cancer drugs target degenerate and redundant functions of cancer cells. As standard therapies often fail to kill all the cancer cells, the remaining ones evolve and compensate for the blocked function, leading to disease recurrence and resistance to therapy. Most of these treatments also cause undesirable side effects and toxicity. A critical cancer engine is MYC, a non-redundant transcription factor essential for tumors to thrive³. MYC controls the proliferation, metabolism and survival of cells. MYC gets deregulated in most cancers, where it drives most cancer hallmarks. Importantly, as MYC is a non-redundant function downstream of the majority of other oncogenes, blocking MYC could be a common therapy for all of them and prevent resistance.

MYC is a non-redundant cell function that drives multiple aspects of tumorigenesis and tumor survival.

OMO-103, Peptomyc’s first-in-class direct MYC inhibitor, represents a breakthrough therapeutic option solving the high unmet need of PDAC patients, and eventually, of many more cancer patients.

https://www.who.int/
European Cancer Information System (ECIS) for the EU-27 countries in 2020. New diagnoses cover all types of cancer, apart from non-melanoma skin cancer.
Llombart & Mansour. Therapeutic targeting of “undruggable” MYC. The Lancet (2022) 75:103756.

Our technology

Our pioneering approach directly targets MYC a key cancer engine. Peptomyc utilizes innovative and patented cell-penetrating mini-proteins derived from Omomyc, enabling us to unlock a new dimension in cancer treatment thanks to a unique Mode of Action (MoA) that enables targeted eradication of cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues.

OMO-103 is a patent-protected (10 patent families), first-in-class and best-in-class cell-penetrating mini-protein targeting MYC, a key driver of cancer progression. MYC dysregulation (observed in ~70% cancers) is associated with poor prognosis and resistance to therapy. OMO-103 is the first drug to overcome the challenges of drugging MYC: its mini-protein fold provides exquisite selectivity, while its cell-penetrating domain delivers it to the nuclei.

OMO-103 is a first-in-class and best-in-class MYC inhibitor for cancer treatment. OMO-103 is based on Omomyc, a molecule designed by Dr. Soucek (Peptomyc’s co-founder and CEO), and which has shown remarkable efficacy in preclinical models of various cancer types driven by various oncogenes over the past two decades.

Our positioning as a trailblazer in MYC inhibition sets us apart, offering novel solutions that hold the potential to transform the cancer treatment landscape.