“The Malvern Panalytical team consistently tailored its services to our goals while delivering quality results. But it’s not just about results. Malvern Panalytical’s detailed analysis and interpretation helped us confidently choose the most apposite next study to strengthen the case for our candidates.”
Michael Agrez, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, InterK Peptide Therapeutics
InterK Peptide Therapeutics is an Australian early-stage virtual biotechnology company that develops small synthetic anticancer peptides. Through its therapies, InterK aims to address four key challenges in oncology:
InterK’s early research suggested that two of its peptide leads could address these challenges. The next goal was to establish that the candidates elicited relevant immunomodulating effects. But investigating a novel compound’s immunomodulatory activity is complex work.
“The Malvern Panalytical team consistently tailored its services to our goals while delivering quality results. But it’s not just about results. Malvern Panalytical’s detailed analysis and interpretation helped us confidently choose the most apposite next study to strengthen the case for our candidates.”
Michael Agrez, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, InterK Peptide Therapeutics
InterK Peptide Therapeutics is an Australian early-stage virtual biotechnology company that develops small synthetic anticancer peptides. Through its therapies, InterK aims to address four key challenges in oncology:
InterK’s early research suggested that two of its peptide leads could address these challenges. The next goal was to establish that the candidates elicited relevant immunomodulating effects. But investigating a novel compound’s immunomodulatory activity is complex work.
It requires a highly experienced team, the ability to develop and customize appropriate assays, and significant expertise in data analysis and results interpretation. Building these capabilities in-house is often too slow and expensive for small companies.
“Immunology is incredibly complicated,” noted Michael Agrez, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, InterK Peptide Therapeutics. “You can’t simply explore one question without being forced to explore 10 others. Running a suite of standard, off-the-shelf assays won’t do, either. That’s why you need flexibility and deep area expertise for program success. As a virtual biotech, we needed quick access to this know-how — the best know-how.”
Without the right immunology understanding, companies face slower, more costly asset development — a serious hindrance in a fast-paced, competitive market. In the worst case, companies may not be able to show the value of a promising candidate therapy at all.
In 2016, InterK engaged Malvern Panalytical’s immunology assay services to further investigate the potential of the two peptides. The close collaboration demonstrated proof-of-concept for the candidates, and the study results added significant value to InterK’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Moreover, the collaboration strongly positioned InterK for further investment and partnerships.
“Choosing Malvern Panalytical was easy,” noted Agrez. “It was clear from early conversations with their Edinburgh-based team that they had extensive immunological understanding and a deep interest in key parts of our research.”
Over 6 years, Malvern Panalytical’s immunology team conducted more than 70 studies with InterK. The studies explored everything from peptide effects on pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses, to enzyme activity that helps maintain DNA telomere length. For this, the team used a range of human and murine immune cell and tumor assays. The array of assays meant InterK could comprehensively evaluate their peptides’ activity for stronger evidence and more confident decision-making.
“Beyond having myriad immune cell assays, Malvern Panalytical also created a unique T cell ‘exhaustion’ assay, which gave us rich insight into our peptides’ impact on cancer evasion from the immune system,” added Agrez. Importantly, Malvern Panalytical could pivot to InterK’s needs and draw on rich knowledge to proactively inform further research. “The Malvern Panalytical team consistently tailored its services to our objectives while delivering quality results,” Agrez commented. “But it’s not just about results. Malvern Panalytical’s detailed analysis and interpretation helped us confidently choose the most apposite next study to strengthen the case for our peptides.”
“Their team had ready access to immune cells from healthy human donors of different ages, too, which helped us see if our peptides could prevent age-related immune dysfunction.”
When developing immunotherapies, speed is critical. Understanding this, InterK appreciated Malvern Panalytical’s timely communications and reporting. “Turnaround times from proposal to results were rapid,” added Agrez. “The immunology team has always quickly responded to any scientific queries arising from reports. When time-to-market is critical, no other approach will do.”
The 6-year partnership benefited InterK in several ways. The studies demonstrated InterK’s peptides could potentially overcome some of the most pressing immuno-oncology challenges. A respected scientific journal has published some of the findings, and several more manuscript submissions to high-ranking journals are now underway. Importantly, several academic institutions in Australia became interested in further evaluating InterK’s lead peptides.
For example, Agrez notes that InterK received a federal government grant, held jointly with a major university, on the back of the results for one of the peptides. The grant enabled InterK to expand its team for further research, with an estimated cost saving of $1 million versus outsourcing the work to a contract research organization (CRO). Similarly, another major Australian university has undertaken research on one of the peptides on InterK’s behalf, saving an estimated $0.75 million.
“The partnership has led to an explosion of interest in InterK, and has added significant value to our IP portfolio,” said Agrez.
“We can more strongly engage with venture capital investors and larger biopharmaceutical organizations. Many more exciting opportunities are now on the horizon.”
Speaking about the value Malvern Panalytical brings to the immunology space, Agrez concluded, “Many unmet needs remain in oncology. Malvern Panalytical has enormous experience in the field and has developed innovative assays to arm customers for success. But more than that, they go the extra mile. We think of them not as a CRO, but a CCRO — a collaborative contract research organization.”
