The venture capital firm behind the coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna on Wednesday unveiled a new Cambridge biotech called Empress Therapeutics, a small startup that says it has created 15 drug molecules in less than two years and hopes to test them on a wide range of diseases.
The venture firm Flagship Pioneering has pledged at least $50 million to Empress to develop “small molecule” drugs. Such medicines make up 90 percent of the pharmaceutical market and include common remedies like aspirin, penicillin, and antihistamines.
Small molecule drugs have garnered less attention from biotechs in recent years than “biologics,” medicines that are manufactured or extracted from living organisms and consist of genetic materials or proteins. Biologics are more complex and less stable. They include revolutionary gene therapies that typically need to be administered through infusions or injections at a doctor’s office or a hospital. The most transformative biologics cost $1 million or more per patient.
Empress says the genetic code that programs cells in the human body makes chemical compounds called metabolites that are a rich source of potential small molecule medicines. The company wants to use metabolites to make drugs through an approach Empress calls Chemilogics, a portmanteau of chemistry and biologics.
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Jason Park, chief executive and a cofounder of Empress and an operating partner at Flagship, said the firm has developed 15 drug candidates for a range of diseases, but will initially focus on autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. It plans to apply to regulators to start clinical trials within two years.
The firm has appointed Murray McKinnon, a veteran executive who recently led Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ World Without Disease Accelerator, as chief scientific officer. He previously worked at Bristol Myers Squibb, and the pharmaceutical company that used to be called Glaxo Wellcome. All told, Empress has about 35 employees.
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In a way, Empress’s focus on small molecule drugs is counterintuitive, given recent criticism by drug makers of the federal Inflation Reduction Act. Signed by President Biden last year, that law seeks to hold down the cost of prescription medications in response to widespread criticism of rising prices.
Thirty Massachusetts-based entrepreneurs, biopharma firms, and investors recently complained about the law in a letter to the Massachusetts congressional delegation. They said it penalizes makers of small molecule drugs by subjecting them to government price controls nine years after such medicines receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration, compared with 13 years for biologics. The letter asked Congress to “swiftly end the Small Molecule Penalty” and make the law apply to all drugs after 13 years.
Park said he was following the controversy, but he seemed reluctant to weigh in.
“All I can focus on is the medicines we’re trying to make and the impact and the value they can bring,” he said. He added, “We’re going to deliver innovative small molecule medicines.”
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.