Signia Therapeutics

Signia Therapeutics proposes an innovative and versatile platform for antiviral drug discovery and repositioning based on globally targeting the host cell instead of specific viral molecular determinants. The Company’s strategy is well adapted to the pathogenesis of respiratory acute infections and provides a novel approach for the identification of broad-spectrum effective antivirals. The innovative and proprietary platform will offer the minimization of drug resistance, with significant regulatory and financial benefits compared to the time-consuming and costly process of classical de novo molecule development. Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) represent the main cause of acute diseases worldwide and remain the number one cause of deaths in newborns and young children (nearly 2 million deaths/year). These respiratory pathogens represent a major public health issue and have a large socio-economic impact. Up to now, very few efficient vaccines or antiviral treatments have been reported in the medical literature to fight against these respiratory pathogens, with the exception of those available against influenza viruses. New efficient antiviral strategies, less prone to the emergence of resistance, are necessary. In an effort to treat these various ARTIs, consumers spend $2-3 billion each year. The therapeutics market for Influenza is estimated to grow from nearly $1 billion in 2014 to nearly $1.3 billion in 2018, with an expected annual growth rate of 8% for the period of 2014-2018. The therapeutics market for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RVS; bronchiolitis) was nearly $0.65 billion in 2014 and is estimated around $2.3 billion in 2024, with an estimated annual growth rate of 29.9% for the period of 2014-2024. Signia Therapeutics initial strategy focuses on the identification and repurposing of already FDA-approved drugs for new antiviral indication. The Company’s proposes a novel strategy to identify and repurpose rapidly, efficiently and at low cost already marketed drugs for new antiviral indication against one or several human respiratory viruses that could be evaluated in clinical trials and/or quickly available in response to any widespread outbreak for which the medical community and patients have limited options. Proofs-of-concept were established, several FDA-approved drugs were validated for new antiviral indication. One clinical trial (FLUNEXT) will start in December 2017 for the evaluation of one very promising antiviral candidate in 300 Flu patients, with final results expected in 2019. This clinical trial is financed by the French Health Ministry. Ongoing programs are currently conducted by Signia Therapeutics and dedicated to the identification and validation of broad-spectrum antiviral compounds against Flu, RSV, hMPV and human Coronaviruses such as MERs-CoV.