Artax Biopharma, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on transforming the treatment of T-cell-mediated diseases, today announces the Company has appointed Andre Hoekema, Ph.D., to the Company’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Hoekema joins the Artax Biopharma Board of Directors as the Company is currently evaluating AX-158 in clinical trials. AX-158 is the Company’s first-in-class, oral small molecule, an investigational immunomodulating agent that selectively acts at the T-cell receptor to lower self-antigen triggered cytokines, a known cause of autoimmune disease. Importantly, AX-158 has the potential to treat multiple T-cell-mediated diseases without causing immunosuppression.
“We are privileged to welcome Dr. Hoekema to our Board of Directors, as he brings more than four decades of significant collaboration experience gained through a successful business development career in the biotech and life sciences sectors,” said Joseph Lobacki, Artax Biopharma’s Chief Executive Officer. “His expertise will be of significant value to the Company as we seek to bring our promising first-in-class, oral, non-immunosuppresive treatment option forward for the benefit of autoimmune patients.”
Andre Hoekema, Ph.D., earned both his master’s and his doctoral degrees from Leiden University. Dr. Hoekema most recently retired from Galapagos N.V. where he served as Chief Business Officer since 2005. In that role he oversaw the Company’s Mergers & Acquisitions, Pharma Partnering, and Intellectual Property functions.
Prior to Galapagos N.V., Dr. Hoekema’s successful biotech industry career included previous positions of increasing seniority at various corporations, including Invitrogen Corporation, where he was Managing Director, Corporate Development Europe; Managing Director at Molecular Probes Europe BV, and Crucell N.V., where he was Director of Business Development. At DSM Life Sciences N.V., and Syngenta MOGEN BV he led the research and project management functions on behalf of both companies. Dr. Hoekema started his career as a research scientist at Genentech, Inc.
Dr. Hoekema has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and has been granted more than 20 patents. He also serves as a supervisory board member of early-stage biotech companies Fibrocor Therapeutics, located in Canada, and Mimetas B.V. and Sapreme Technologies B.V., both headquartered in Holland.
About Artax Science and Immunomodulation
Artax believes immunomodulation – selective targeting of specific functions and operations of the immune system – holds great potential to address the tremendous unmet need in immunology. Our clinical stage immunomodulating program acts directly at the T-cell receptor (TCR). Importantly, Artax agents are able to selectively target inappropriately activated areas of the immune system, thus eliminating a cause of T-cell-driven diseases while not impacting a patient’s ability to effectively fight foreign pathogens and infections.
T-cells are the central, critical cells orchestrating the immune response, protecting the body against foreign pathogens, infections and malignancy while importantly not reacting to an individual’s tissues and organs. The TCR activates and controls the many functions and responses of the T-cell, serving a critical role for both healthy immune system and T-cell response.
Dysregulated TCR signaling results in increased cytokine signaling, a root cause of T-cell-mediated diseases, including autoimmune diseases. In addition to autoimmune diseases, T-cell-mediated diseases include T-cell malignancies, and induced T-cell pathologies where therapeutic treatments result in unwanted immune reaction side effects. Such induced T-cell immune reactions include stem cell transplants resulting in acute graft-versus-host-disease, and immuno-oncology treatments resulting in immune-related-adverse events. This central role of dysregulated TCR signaling across a number of disease states makes the TCR a highly attractive target for therapeutic intervention.
About AX-158
AX-158 is a clinical stage, first-in-class, oral, small molecule immunomodulating agent in clinical development for the treatment of T-cell-mediated diseases. The immunomodulatory effect of AX-158 is designed to safely return the immune system to a state of rebalance without immunosuppression.
AX-158 is a highly specific (SH3.1 domain) inhibitor of Nck, a protein that naturally amplifies T-cell signaling caused by self-antigens at the TCR. AX-158 inhibits Nck at the TCR, resulting in less TCR activation and lowered self-antigen triggered cytokines, including Th-1, Th-17 and Th-2 type cytokines. High levels of such various cytokines are associated with a broad set of T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and many others. Importantly, preclinical data suggests AX-158 is not immunosuppressive, and so does not impact the immune system’s ability to mount a strong response to foreign pathogens and infections.
About Artax Biopharma
Artax Biopharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company transforming the treatment of T-cell-driven diseases through innovative small molecules that modulate the immune system. Artax’s disruptive science holds broad potential to treat T-cell-mediated diseases such as autoimmune diseases, induced T-cell pathologies (such as acute graft-versus-host disease, and immune-oncology treatment-related adverse events), and T-cell malignancies, while simultaneously allowing the body to fight foreign pathogens and infections. For more information, please visit: www.artaxbiopharma.com.
