SFA Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company novel oral small-molecule biosynthetic compounds derived from human microbial metabolites. This immuno-modulation platform is used to develop therapeutic agents that mitigate inflammation without causing immunosuppression. The technology is licensed from and supported by research at Temple University in Philadelphia. Pulse 2.0 interviewed SFA Therapeutics CEO Dr. Ira Spector to learn more about the company.
Dr. Ira Spector’s Background
What is Dr. Spector’s background? Dr. Spector said:
“I have worked in the biopharma industry for over 30 years and previously held leadership positions at Wyeth, Pfizer, Allergan, and ICON in the development of over 34 approved drugs and 12 medical devices. Additionally, I co-founded 4 startup companies, prior to co-founding SFA Therapeutics.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Dr. Spector shared:
“The company first came together when I met Temple University professor Mark Feitelson at a social event, and he began telling me about his research. Mark later introduced me to his colleague and fellow Temple professor, Alla Arzumanyan. Mark and Alla had developed a strategy for treating inflammatory disorders but didn’t have experience in building a company and bringing a drug to market. My prior experience was complementary to their initial work, and we decided to work together to create SFA Therapeutics.”
“In addition to our scientific interests, we also share certain ideological similarities in terms of therapeutic development and the company was founded based on the fundamental idea that we should be developing therapeutics which modify disease progression and restore patients to a healthy baseline, as opposed to merely treating disease symptoms.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Dr. Spector reflected:
“Seeing the results of our phase 1b clinical trial, which are World-class, and are about to be published.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Dr. Spector explained:
“We are primarily focused on the development of our lead asset, SFA-002, for the treatment of autoimmune disease, with psoriasis as the first indication. We also have a number of additional patented drugs under development for the treatment of additional indications such as pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. Using our in-house developed drug discovery platform, we identify human microbial metabolites which play a role in immune homeostasis. We then tailor these metabolites towards pathways relevant to specific disease areas and modify them to possess better drug-like properties so that they can be orally administered and stay in the bloodstream long enough to have a meaningful impact.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Dr. Spector acknowledged:
“Funding for early stage biotechs has become a challenge. We have been fortunate to raise capital that has gotten us through phase 1 and have been capital-efficient in our clinical trials. Raising the funds for phase 2 remains a hurdle, but our data are very strong and should help us overcome this challenge.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Dr. Spector noted:
“Over time, we have refined our approach to better target specific pathways associated with certain diseases. By developing the tools and knowledge necessary to strategically target certain aspects of immune signaling, we have fine-tuned our ability to correct the specific imbalances associated with particular disease states. In tandem with these advances, we have also refined our formulation to allow for oral dosing of our therapeutics. We are proud of the progress we have made. Through scientific rigor, we have managed to go from an idea to a pipeline of therapeutic drugs which we are actively evaluating in clinical trials.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Dr. Spector cited:
“The company was founded in 2017 and launched our Phase 1b clinical trial of SFA-002 in April of 2020, and we saw promising preliminary data from our first cohort of patients in August of 2023. We have since completed dosing of an additional cohort of patients and are pleased with the data from both cohorts. Each of these milestones represent the hard work and dedication of our team as well as the potential of our therapeutic platform for developing novel treatments targeting the immune system.”
Funding
When asking Dr. Spector about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We have raised about $9 million to-date and are raising $25 million in a syndicated Series A.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Dr. Spector assessed:
“The Total Addressable Market in autoimmune disease (psoriasis, RA, MS, Lupus, Crohn’s, etc.) exceeds $100 million, with psoriasis alone at approximately $40 million. The TAM in our other indications (liver cancer, MASH/NASH, pancreatic cancer, uveitis, prevention of relapse/recurrence in AML, etc. ) exceeds $100 million.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Dr. Spector affirmed:
“We are taking a different approach to treating inflammatory disorders and autoimmune disease. While many drugs currently on the market and under development focus on suppression of the immune system, we are developing therapeutic agents which restore balance to the immune system without suppressing overall immune response. While effective, immunosuppressant drugs can often be accompanied by unpleasant side effects and there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of how these diseases are often treated. We are also working to develop immunotherapies which can be taken orally and don’t require intravenous infusions. The ability for a patient to easily and comfortably administer their own treatment can greatly improve both adherence and quality of life.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Dr. Spector emphasized:
“We plan to advance SFA-002 forward into Phase 2 clinical trials and to bring additional drugs currently under development into the clinic to evaluate their efficacy in other disease areas. We recently received additional patent protection that will allow us to expand into autoimmune disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. While our primary focus is currently on psoriasis, we have developed a robust platform for drug discovery which will enable us to continue creating new therapeutic treatments for a variety of disease indications. We plan to advance forward with an expansive pipeline of therapeutic agents for the treatment of diseases involving inflammation and immune dysregulation.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Dr. Spector concluded:
“We have a very big vision, to change Medicine by treating a root cause of autoimmune disease. We aim to change the course of disease by replacing compounds that patients with these indications don’t produce, in a manner analogous to providing insulin to type 1 diabetics. We believe that we can change the course of disease in these patients and have seen functional cures in psoriasis and MASH/NASH.”
