Daniel Gillet (SIMOPRO) and his team exploited the natural ability of diphtheria toxin to bind to the precursor of Heparin-binding Epidermal Growth Factor (Heparin Binding-Epidermal Growth Factor) to develop a very potent selective inhibitor of this growth factor: the DTR8 protein. In collaboration with Inserm's nephrologist Pierre-Louis Tharaux, DTR8 has shown efficacy in monkeys to treat rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, a rare renal disease in which overexpression of the growth factor is directly involved. A patent covering Europe, the United States and Japan has been issued.
Accompanied by the institute's Valo cell, and with the help of a first grant from the Rare Diseases Foundation, Daniel Gillet and his team set up a consortium of Inserm, SATT Paris-Saclay and an investor private, to fund in vivo proof of concept in a pig model representative of human pathology. With the maturation agreement just signed, the two-year program can now begin.
At the end of the program, and in the event of a consolidated demonstration of the effectiveness of the therapeutic protein DTR8 against rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, the objective will be to license the patent to a pharmaceutical manufacturer or to create a start-up.