PureTech will take on the development of two mTORC1 inhibitors from Novartis aimed at stopping the decline of the immune system associated with age.

Novartis is building up the portfolio of PureTech is a Boston-based healthcare company listed on the London stock market. Originally an investment firm, it now has put together a drug pipeline from its biotech portfolio. Its latest additionsare twodrugs to prevent and treat diseases related toimmunosenescence, an age-related process that reduces the immune systems functions.

PureTech will create a subsidiary, resTORbio, to carry out the development, starting with a Phase IIb trial for age-related immune system deterioration. The US company has allocated 14M ($15M) for the program, giving it a 58% stake that could rise to 67% in the future with an additional 9M ($10M) investment.

For its part, Novartis will get an undisclosed equity stake in the company plus milestonepayments and royalties as the drug advances through development and commercialization. The big Swiss pharma has already run two Phase IIa studies in elderly patients with the two mTORC1 inhibitors.

The immune system progressively loses its function with age, leading to age-related disorders

Novartis already has an mTOR inhibitor in the market, Everolimus, used as an immunosuppressant for organ transplantation and certain forms of cancer. Preclinical research seemed to indicate that this drug could also extend the lifespan and boost the efficacy of vaccines, which led the company to start human trials.

However, despite the promising potential of the candidates, Novartis has decided to trust someone else with developmentand waitto see whether theyre successful in the long term.

The field ofanti-aging,focused on delaying and preventing age-related conditions, is still young and so far it mostly attracts innovative biotech companies rather than traditional pharma. But as medicine advances and the human lifespan increases, Im sure it will start gaining more and more recognition.

Images from Africa Studio /Shutterstock;Dorrington MG and Bowdish DME (2013)Front. Immunol. 4:171.

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Novartis puts the Development of two Anti-Aging Drugs in American Hands - Labiotech.eu (blog)