Viron's scientific founders were among the first to recognize that many viruses, and other pathogenic organisms, have evolved to express potent anti-inflammatory/anti-immune compounds that target key pathways of immune function. Viron makes synthetic versions of the proteins using standard recombinant techniques. Viron is the leader in developing these immunomodulating protein therapeutics and is the first company to advance a candidate viral therapeutic protein into human clinical trials.
Viron's proprietary screening program, PROSPECTTM - PROtein Screen for Pathogen-Evolved Combined Therapeutics, enables the identification and prioritization of candidates with the highest commercial potential. There are two primary objectives of the PROSPECTTM program:
- 1. To identify drug candidates that target pathways of known commercial value
This approach has several benefits, which include helping to identify the most appropriate and experienced partners in target areas and help guide the clinical path forward for the most commercially attractive candidates.
- 2. To identify drug candidates that target pathways targeting multiple synergistic clinically validated pathways
Several viruses are known to target multiple pathways of inflammation, in some cases with viral proteins that are just as potent as or more potent than some of the carefully selected monoclonal antibodies on the market today. Such target combinations point the way towards new types of combination therapeutics.
Viron has a growing list of hundreds of candidate genes from several known viruses and parasites. This reservoir of candidate genes/proteins is being expanded using our proprietary bioinformatics approach to facilitate rapid and low cost scale-up of the PROSPECTTM program.
