- Ponce Therapeutic’s (“Ponce”) lead product, ReBeaut™, is a microneedle patch containing nanoparticles carrying its proprietary ApoptiCIDe™ cell elimination gene therapy technology targeting senescent keratinocytes and fibroblasts in the skin
- Speratum Biopharma (“Speratum”) will receive an upfront payment, pre-clinical and clinical milestone payments, and a royalty on worldwide net sales of Licensed Products incorporating their technology
- Ponce’s exclusive license allows it to utilize the licensed technology to extend its gene therapy clinical portfolio to include any skin disorders, benign or malignant and all anti-aging applications, whether delivered locally or systemically
MIAMI, July 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Ponce Therapeutics, Inc., a company leveraging the growing scientific knowledge surrounding the aging process to develop anti-aging technologies, announced today that it had executed a worldwide, exclusive license to Speratum’s proprietary Nano-in™ and No-Pass Mimic™ technologies to advance its lead product, ReBeaut™, a state-of-the-art biotechnology platform to restore the youthful balance of aged or “senescent” and young, vital cells in the skin, targeting the senescent cells for elimination, providing a “reboot” of the skin’s composition back to its youthful exuberance. Speratum’s Nano-in™ is a proprietary, biocompatible polymer, LGA-PEI, that can condense with nucleic acids to form nanoparticles for drug delivery that can be used in vivo with a favorable pre-clinical toxicity profile. Nano-in™ will be used to deliver Ponce’s ApoptiCIDe™ cell elimination technology into the skin via a proprietary dissolvable microneedle delivery platform. Ponce’s exclusive license allows it to utilize the licensed technology to extend its gene therapy clinical portfolio to include any disorder of the skin, benign and malignant, including all dermatologic and cosmetic applications, skin-mediated gene therapy and skin-mediated delivery of small peptides, peptide-like molecules and other small molecules, and all anti-aging indications, whether delivered locally or systemically.
PONCE Therapeutics, Inc. (https://poncetherapeutics.com), a biotech company leveraging the growing scientific knowledge surrounding the process of aging to develop products to arrest or reverse the aging process, was founded by Kevin Slawin, MD, Chairman and CEO and David Spencer, PhD., Chief Technology Officer, reuniting the team that founded Bellicum Pharmaceuticals and took it public in 2014 with a $55 million crossover Series C and a $161 million IPO. The team is retooling their original cell control technology with state-of-the-art advances (“ApoptiCIDe™“) towards their new goal of creating anti-aging products with a solid underlying scientific basis. Ponce Therapeutics began operations in January 2021 and operates in laboratory space in K2 Biolabs (https://k2-biolabs.com) in Houston, TX. Dr. Slawin is a founding Board Member of K2 Bio and both Drs. Slawin and Spencer are investors. Drs. Slawin and Spencer are also joined by Damian Young, Ph.D., CSO, and Kayvon Namvar, CFO, as the founders of DELIVER Therapeutics, Inc. (https://deliverthera.com) a company that plans to apply novel, high-throughput screening technologies combined with chemical innovation to DELIVER therapeutics, including novel anti-aging therapeutics, that address the most difficult problems in clinical medicine and that is also situated at K2 Bio.
Ponce’s founding lead investor, Rapha Capital, is an investment management firm focused on making strategic investments in early stage, non-public biotechnology companies, through special purpose, joint venture entities which it manages. Rapha Capital was founded by its President, Kevin Slawin, M.D., a successful and experienced oncologic and robotic surgeon. In addition to founding Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Bellicum”), a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ, he also plays a guiding role in several of the investments managed by Rapha Capital in certain companies, serving as Board Chairman of Imagin Medical, Inc. (https://imaginmedical.com), a publicly traded company (OTC: IMEXF), and FIZE Medical, Inc. (https://fizemedical.com), and a board member at 3DBio Therapeutics, Inc. (https://3dbiocorp.com/), and Demeetra AgBio, Inc. (http://demeetra.com). Together with Dr. Mitch Steiner, CEO of Veru, Inc., he is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Miami MediCo.s (https://miamimedicos.com), a network of physicians, founders, executives and investors working to expand the entrepreneurial healthcare ecosystem in Miami.
“The science of aging has continued to mature and can now provide a scientific basis for technologies to reverse the aging process in humans. Proof of concept data in animal models demonstrates that removal of senescent cells from organs improves their function and imbues them with a more youthful profile,”
said Dr. Slawin.
“I’m excited to be taking another important step towards the clinic in the anti-aging space, which I believe will quickly rival oncology in both value and interest”
he added.
“With this license, we are building the necessary technology platform to deliver our first product, beginning with the skin, allowing us to leverage an increasingly detailed, mechanistic understanding of aging to arrest or even reverse it,”
added Dr. Spencer.
“We are gratified to begin this collaboration with the team at Ponce that utilizes our novel technologies as part of their therapeutic platform,”
said Dr. Christian Marin-Mueller, the founder and CEO of Speratum and the inventor of Nano-in™ and No-Pass Mimic™ technologies. Dr. Thilo Bayrhoffer, Speratum Biopharma lead investor, treasurer, and member of the board added “Our patented technologies, combining synthetic biology with nanotechnology, are needed to develop modifiable and adaptable therapeutic platforms for targeted nucleic acid delivery. Following a research collaboration with Roche in 2021, this is the first commercial license for our technologies, and it reinforces our commitment to further Speratum’ s therapeutic programs, including MiR198 targeting pancreatic cancer, which is expected to be in the clinic by 2024.”
About Ponce Therapeutics, Inc.
Ponce Therapeutics – “Anti-aging Technologies Based on Real Science and Developed by Real Scientists” – Ponce Therapeutics is leveraging the growing scientific knowledge surrounding the process of aging to develop its first state-of-the-art biotechnology platform to restore the youthful balance of aged or “senescent” and young cells in the skin, targeting senescent cells for elimination. This provides a “reboot” of one’s genetic program to turn the clock on one’s skin back to its youthful exuberance. While initially focused on skin, Ponce is planning to develop a wide-ranging portfolio of anti-aging products based on the best science in the nascent anti-aging field. Ponce is headquartered in Miami, Florida with research facilities located in Houston, TX.
For more information about PONCE Therapeutics, email [email protected] or visit https://poncetherapeutics.com
About Speratum Biopharma, Inc.
Speratum Biopharma, Inc. (“Speratum”) is an innovative biotechnology company focused on research and development of targeted oligonucleotide delivery systems and nucleic acid therapeutics, including No-Pass Mimic™ microRNA (“miRNA) for the treatment of cancer. The company was founded in 2014 with technologies licensed from Baylor College of Medicine (“Baylor”). Since then, Speratum has combined these with best-in class, proprietary nanotechnologies to generate a ground-breaking oligonucleotide and cell therapy platform. Speratum is currently in final pre-clinical stages of development for its first therapeutic, a small RNA tumor suppressor against pancreatic, ovarian, and other cancers that includes a proprietary RNA interference (“RNAi”)-inducing mimic of miR-198, a naturally occurring microRNA involved in the pathogenesis of a number of solid cancers. Speratum’s Nano-in™ and No-Pass Mimic™ technologies are also being studied in other oligonucleotide research areas and therapeutic modalities such as circular RNA (“circRNAs”).
For more information about Speratum Biopharma, please visit https://speratum.com or e-mail [email protected]
About Rapha Capital Management, LLC and Rapha Capital BioVentures Fund I, LP – Rapha Capital Management, LLC is an investment management firm located in Miami, Florida, focusing on strategic investments in early stage, non-public biotechnology companies. Rapha Capital was founded by its President, Kevin Slawin, MD, a successful and experienced oncologic and robotic surgeon, biotech consultant, investor, and founder focusing on technologies in oncology, T cells and immunotherapy, as well as other breakthrough healthcare technologies. Rapha Capital Management manages thirteen legacy SPIVs, Rapha Capital Investment I – XIII. Rapha Capital Management offers alternative asset management services to the RCBV Fund, which has more recently been the vehicle for both new and follow-on investments managed by Rapha Capital Management.
For more information about Rapha Capital Management, email [email protected] or visit https://www.raphacap.com
