11 December 2019 - - UK-based biotechnology company Engitix Ltd and US-based biopharmaceutical company Morphic Therapeutic, which developer oral integrin therapies, have entered into a research collaboration to identify ECM-related drug targets in fibrostenotic inflammatory bowel disease, an intestinal fibrosis complication that affects approximately 30 per cent of Crohn's Disease patients, the company said.

The collaboration will use Engitix's ECM platform to identify drug targets for potential future oral integrin drug candidates as treatments for fibrostenotic diseases.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Engitix will apply its unique tissue-specific ECM platform to identify and characterise the expression of drug targets, and cover integrin and non-integrin expression in fibrostenosis.

By incorporating human ECM, Engitix's in vitro models closely resemble the natural cell microenvironment and increase the probability that target identification can occur in a relevant and meaningful context.

Based on its MInT discovery platform, Morphic aims to advance treatments for patients suffering from serious chronic diseases, including autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as fibrosis and cancer.

IBD is characterised by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, with two main types: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease. Its fibrostenotic complications can lead to stricture formation (narrowing), intestinal obstruction and a need for surgical intervention and, as such, is one of the largest unresolved clinical challenges in IBD.

Engitix is developing a portfolio of programmes in fibrosis and solid tumours using its pioneering human extracellular matrix drug discovery platform.

The use of more physiologically relevant human in vitro models is transforming our ability to identify new targets, determine modes/mechanisms of action, and more accurately predict the efficacy of therapeutics candidates.

Now a transatlantic biotechnology company, Engitix was founded in July 2016 to commercialise cutting-edge research executed at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, Division of Medicine, University College London. The company is headquartered at the world-renowned Royal Free Hospital, London, UK with its wholly-owned US subsidiary Engitix, Inc, based in Cambridge, MA, US.

In November 2018, Engitix raised USD 6.4m in series A financing.
Morphic Therapeutic is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new generation of oral integrin therapies for the treatment of serious chronic diseases, including autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, fibrosis and cancer.