Phylogica's pipeline expansion

West Australian biotech Phylogica has appointed former Pharmaxis scientist Dr Doug Francis to head its drug development team.

Francis was previously a reviewer at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and a founding employee at Pharmaxis, where he led the preparation and submission of IND and marketing approval dossiers for products such as Aridol and Bronchitol. The former has been approved in Australia and Europe, and will soon be undergoing review by the FDA in the US.

At Phylogica, Francis will be in charge of guiding upcoming drug candidates through the pre-clinical development phases. Phylogica has developed a range of peptides called phylomers, which are able to bind to target proteins and block their interactions.

Phylomers are sourced from the ancient bacterial phylum archaea. The company has developed libraries of millions of phylomers and boasts that the hugely divergent protein structures available offer better hit rates than other peptide or antibody libraries.

Last year, the Perth-based company signed two significant deals, one with Irish company Opsona Therapeutics to develop drug candidates in the fields of toll-like receptors and T-regulatory cells. The other is an as-yet undisclosed partnership with Johnson & Johnson Research.