Fe Pharmaceuticals was founded to develop unique, purpose-designed, iron management polymers as therapeutic treatments to alter the course of serious diseases in patients.
Iron dysregulation, when leading to plentiful extracellular iron, accelerates rapidly growing cells such as pathogens in infections and cancer.
Iron Binding Polymers
Our first clinical lead molecule augments the body’s natural iron management process of iron withdrawal, called the hypoferremic response, to address diseases involving cell proliferation and inflammation.
DIBI (Denying Iron to Bacterial Infections) is a polymer built to bind iron tighter than any pathogen molecules. Each molecule of DIBI to bind three iron molecules completely.
DIBI can be used to treat infectious diseases by removing the iron that pathogens need to grow, starving them.
Iron is required for human life
- life-essential processes utilize iron (within enzymes)
- proper level maintained for health (4-5g)
Iron required for pathogens too
- from parasites to fungi to bacteria viruses
Pathogens must get iron from host
- many have specialized iron obtaining molecules, siderophores
- only a small amount of body iron (0.1%; 2-4mg) is available to most pathogens
Biological tug-of-war between body and pathogens over available iron
- too much free iron favors
pathogens
- natural body iron withdrawal mechanism: hypoferremic response, reduces free iron
DIBI binds only the free iron available to pathogens
- binds iron too tightly for pathogens to obtain
- does not remove essential iron inside host cells
Tips the tug-of-war strongly in favor of the host
- starves pathogens of an essential bio-metal
- stops pathogen growth
- increases vulnerability to antibiotics (synergy)