Fe Pharmaceuticals Launches US Subsidiary, Names New Independent Board Members

Fe Pharmaceuticals (Canada) has created a new US subsidiary, Fe Pharmaceuticals, to develop DIBI, a non-toxic, iron-binding copolymer, as a potent, broad-spectrum, antimicrobial agent active against bacterial and fungal infections, including drug resistant organisms, and as a potential cancer therapy. Fe Pharmaceuticals will be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area, home to half of the executive team and Board members. Fe Pharmaceuticals (Canada) was formerly known as Chelation Partners.

Fe Pharmaceuticals was renamed to reflect the expanded focus on the connection between iron and disease and mission to develop new iron management polymers as therapeutic agents in infectious disease, cancer and inflammatory disorders. The first agent, DIBI, is an iron-binding co-polymer which has shown impressive performance in a variety of infectious disease models and in vitro activity against breast cancer cell lines, leading to 22 peer reviewed scientific publications to date. DIBI is in preclinical development.

Three independent Directors with decades of experience in pharmaceutical development business and biotech investing have been added to the Board of Fe Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Anne-Marie Duliege is CMO for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and was previously CMO at Rigel and Affymax. She also worked at ChemoCentryx, Chiron, Genentech and the National Institute of Science and Medical Research in Paris. Dr. Belinda Nivaggioli is CEO of Avicena Group. She previously founded CN Partners, LLC, and was CEO of Peninsula Skincare labs, and QuRetino. Dr. Patricia Beckmann is the Managing Director of BioStrategy and was previously at Immunex Corporation (now Amgen) and Vulcan Capital. She is the co-inventor of Immunex/Amgen’s Enbrel.

“These extraordinary Directors provide deep industry experience on our Board to help navigate our revolutionary new therapy through the challenges of infectious disease and oncology development and partnering”, said Michael Weickert, Executive Chairman who was also recently named CEO. “Having strong independent Board members also helps ensure the best possible strategy for, and stewardship of, the company.”

The company is raising a Series A to advance DIBI into initial clinical studies.

DIBI

DIBI is a non-toxic, iron-binding polymer with potent, broad-spectrum, antimicrobial activity against fungal and bacterial infections, including those caused by drug resistant organisms. DIBI exploits the absolute requirement of pathogens for iron in order to grow and reproduce. DIBI scavenges the iron required for infections, yet is non-toxic. It has single µM MICs (minimal inhibitory concentration) for pathogens. In multiple peer-reviewed studies using animal models of infection including of the ear, skin, lung and systemic, it was effective against bacterial and fungal species, with synergistic benefits when administered with conventional anti-infective agents. In animal models of sepsis, DIBI also down-regulated excess cytokine release and promoted survival, acting synergistically with antibiotics.

DIBI is part of a platform of iron binding polymers Fe Pharmaceuticals is developing for a wide variety of infectious disease applications as well as anti-inflammatory and oncology indications. The highly soluble nature of these polymers makes a wide variety of formulations and delivery methods possible; DIBI has been delivered to the ear, nose, lung, skin, peritoneally, orally and intravenously in animal models. A real-world clinical study in dogs recently showed that DIBI alone was equivalent to the current standard of care, a combination of two antibiotics, in treating otitis externa, pioneering the first potential veterinary indication.

About Fe Pharmaceuticals

Fe Pharmaceuticals (Canada) is a Nova Scotia, Canada company focused on medical indications related to iron availability including infectious disease, cancer and others. Fe Pharmaceuticals is the US subsidiary located in the San Francisco Bay area. Fe’s lead product candidate DIBI fits the ideal product profile for an anti-pathogen agent; DIBI is non-toxic, removes iron in manner pathogens cannot circumvent, inhibits pathogen growth, enhances vulnerability to other pathogen-specific agents, is very broad spectrum and very potent, with single µM MICs against even drug resistant pathogens like Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Acinetobacter baumannii. Iron sequestration has applications in other diseases and in published cancer research, DIBI inhibits cancer cell growth and acts as a strong sensitizer to conventional chemotherapy.