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Matrix Pharma develops technology that shortens drug development time |
Company CEO, Sion Balass: "The development of drugs is based too much on luck
and chance. Basically, it is a process of random experimentation that does not
include the drawing of conclusions"
Each year, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars on the research and development of new drugs. Most of the expense is invested in the clinical phases of development: the longest and most expensive phase is the phase of testing medical products in people. Despite the massive financial investment in this sphere, the results bear absolutely no proportion to the investments: over 90% of drugs in the initial phase, i.e. molecules, that enter clinical trials, ultimately fail. Meaning, only about 10% of the molecules that go into clinical trials pass the "screening process" and reach the status of a medication on the shelf.
Sion Balass, CEO of Matrix Pharma, which has developed a technology that shortens the drug development process, says that, "In the processes that exist in the industry today, the development of medicines is based too much on luck and chance. Basically, it is a process of random experimentation that does not include the drawing of conclusions. Hundreds of thousands of molecules are run in the hope that one good one will be identified, which can treat the medical problem. There is no process that analyzes the biological problem at the heart of the medical phenomenon and builds on it an organized method for the discovery of medications. That is why it takes many years and consumes massive resources."
The company was established in 2004 by Sion Balass, an Israeli businessman, and Dr. Marcel Thuerk, a German scientist specializing in biophysics. Thuerk consulted the Balass family for advice on business development. Balass immediately understood that Thuerk had a promising innovative generic technology, which could be turned into a business. After Balass and Thuerk had subjected the technology to a year of feasibility studies, Balass decided to devote his time to the company. Following several projects in various fields, one of them for the US Army, they decided to focus on the application of the discovery and development of drugs.
And thus Matrix Pharma was established, with its offer of a different approach to the drug discovery process, which its initiators define as revolutionary. The company has developed a smart algorithm-based technology that is able to reduce the time required to search for molecules that are suitable for development as drug leads through a process that significantly shortens the time required for the discovery process and enhances the molecule's chances of passing clinical trials.
Reducing the percentage of failures
"Today, it takes three to five years to find a molecule that is a suitable candidate drug lead. Because of the random nature of the work method, the failure percentages are above 90%. This process costs the development companies millions of dollars. With our technology, in less than a year we identify a suitable molecule in every drug discovery project we embark on. Besides significantly shortening the time involved there is also a huge saving in terms of the investment. This process costs us only €600 thousand."
In the drug discovery process using Matrix Pharma's technology an innovative method is applied, allowing for the location of the most suitable molecule with the best chances of passing clinical trials and being approved by the health authorities. This optimization significantly shortens development time for the drug discovery process and involves costs that are relatively negligible. Matrix Pharma does not market the technology, but uses it to develop drugs itself. The company's thrombosis-prevention drug, which has received patent approval and is already in the pre-clinical trial phase, was discovered after only eight test cycles, each of which lasted about five weeks.
The company's business model is based on multiple projects, thus allowing for a greater spread of the risk involved.
Balass says, "Within three years we will be working on eight drug discovery projects simultaneously, which will be in the Pre-Clinical, Phase I and Phase II stages.
"We intend to sell the drugs in the Phase II stage, and the budget we need for the next three years is just fifteen million dollars. Consequently, in an industry where the barrier to entry is very high, Matrix Pharma's technology lowers the barrier to market entry."
Published in "The BUSINESS Post",
Hi-Tech
March 5, 2007
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