BioWorld International Correspondent

Opsona Therapeutics Ltd. in-licensed from Nestlé SA a preclinical protein found in human breast milk and serum that has immunomodulatory activity.

Terms were not disclosed, but Dublin, Ireland-based Opsona has unencumbered pharmaceutical rights to the protein, CEO Mark Heffernan told BioWorld International. "They have certain options to certain fields, but that hasn't been disclosed," he said.

The companies have not disclosed the nature of the protein either, although scientists working at the Nestlé research center in Vevey, Switzerland, previously published on soluble CD14 (sCD14), a bacterial pattern recognition receptor found in human milk and serum that appears to modulate the innate immune response.

The compound Opsona has obtained is not dissimilar, Heffernan said, although it is not sCD14. "It works through modulating the effects of TLRs [Toll-like receptors], principally by inhibiting the TLR," he said. Opsona will develop modifications of the protein for further development. The program is two to three years from entering the clinic, Heffernan said.

The company, which is focused on finding inhibitors to TLRs for treating autoimmune conditions, is rebuilding its pipeline having "de-prioritized" its two lead molecules, OPN-101 and OPN-201.

A small-molecule compound will be the focus of an IND in the first quarter of 2009.

The company plans to file an investigational new drug application for a monoclonal antibody that has inhibitory effects on a TLR in 2010.

The contact with Nestlé came about through one of Opsona's first round investors, Inventages Venture Capital Investment Inc., of Nassau, the Bahamas, whose main investor is Nestlé.

Opsona is going back out to the market in the next month, and will seek €8 million (US$11.9 million) to €12 million in a Series B round, Heffernan said.