Strategy

sterna biologicals aims to rapidly translate fundamental research into novel drug candidates for lung and skin diseases. Our insights into the clinical aspects of immunology guide our approach to drug discovery. The overall aim is to causatively interfere at a very early stage with central disease-causing mechanisms. All our compounds in development either possess unique advantages compared to existing forms of therapy or seek to provide medical relief to so far inadequately addressed patient populations.

SB010, our lead compound for moderate and severe Th2-driven asthma, represents the result of a decade of research into DNAzymes and immunology. A range of publications in some of the leading medical journals demonstrate that the transcription factor GATA-3 occupies a key position in the pathology of asthma. We discovered that the active component of SB010 proved superior to other GATA-3 specific DNAzymes in vitro and showed significant anti-inflammatory activities in pre-clinical models in vivo. Moreover, the characteristics of DNAzymes in general such as synthetic (i.e. non-biological) production and high specificity of action make them ideal drug candidates. Having recently completed extensive pre-clinical work on SB010, we can now focus on executing on our GATA-3 clinical development programme which also includes SB011 for atopic dermatitis.

As regards our Tbet programme, pre-clinical work on SB020 for psoriasis is expected to be completed in 2012 with clinical trials commencing in early 2013.

We are also developing a range of assays and diagnostic tests for our targets to support our stratified therapy approach.

By the end of 2013, sterna biologicals aims to have completed two phase II proof-of-concept trials (SB010 for moderate and severe Th2-driven asthma and SB011 for atopic dermatitis) as well as one additional phase I trial (SB020 for psoriasis).

The company closed a EUR 14.3 million (USD 20.9 million) financing round in 2011 and is well-funded for its current development programme.