Juvena Therapeutics, Inc. (Juvena), a platform-driven clinical-stage company unlocking the therapeutic potential of stem-cell secreted proteins and translating them into a growing pipeline of engineered biologics for chronic muscle and metabolic diseases, announced it has entered into a global licensing and multi-target research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to discover, develop, and commercialize drug candidates that improve muscle health and body composition.
• As part of the collaboration, Juvena will leverage JuvNET, the world’s first, fully integrated, AI-enabled screening platform for mapping the therapeutic potential of stem cell-secreted proteins, developed by Juvena.
• The collaboration will identify muscle targeting drug candidates from Juvena’s proprietary library of human stem-cell secreted proteins for improved body composition and muscle health.
• Collaboration aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments that help individuals maintain and even improve their muscle mass and function.
• “We are thrilled to demonstrate the power of our fully integrated AI-enabled platform to accelerate the discovery and development of therapeutics with transformative potential that promote healthspan in individuals facing chronic conditions like obesity and frailty,” said Dr. Hanadie Yousef, co-founder and CEO of Juvena Therapeutics.
• “Particularly as a strong body of evidence demonstrates the link between muscle health and enhanced metabolism, mobility, and even long-term disease prevention and overall health, we look forward to advancing our pro-metabolic and muscle regenerative discoveries and continuing to leverage Juvena’s proprietary stem-cell derived protein library to identify novel targets and deliver better treatments for patients with efficiency and purpose.”
• “Obesity affects one in eight people globally, all of whom deserve a chance at better health,"" said Dr. Jeremy O’Connell, co-founder and chief science officer of Juvena Therapeutics.
• “Bringing together Lilly’s decades-long experience in metabolic diseases with Juvena’s AI expertise and deep understanding of human stem-cell secreted proteins with therapeutic potential, we aim to accelerate innovation that advances the standard of care in obesity management and helps people live their best lives.”
• Under the terms of the agreement, Juvena will receive an upfront payment, an equity investment, and potential development and commercialization milestone payments.
• Juvena will grant Lilly an exclusive license to identified lead candidates and Lilly will be responsible for further research, development and commercialization.
• Juvena Therapeutics is achieving this through its fully integrated, end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled drug discovery and development platform, JuvNET, that combines a compounding database mapping secreted proteins to specific disease phenotypes, in silico and in vitro human cell screening, pharmacology, and protein engineering capabilities, leveraging the latest in quantitative proteomics and AI.
• Juvena’s pipeline of biologic drug candidates span chronic muscle and obesity-related diseases.
• Last month, Juvena announced the first clinical trial for its lead programme, JUV-161, engineered from a natural secreted protein that enhances muscle regeneration and health.