Macrophage Pharma is an immunotherapy company that develops unique small-molecule drugs which are targeted to cells of monocytic origin such as macrophages and dendritic cells. It uses its proprietary Esterase Sensitive Motif (ESM™) technology to achieve selective delivery and accumulation of drugs in these cells.
The ESM™ technology is a medicinal chemistry platform that is designed to deliver small molecule drugs to macrophages in a highly selective manner to activate the body’s natural immune system to fight multiple disease areas including cancer inflammation, fibrosis and metabolism.
Macrophage Pharma’s novel Esterase Sensitive Motif™ (ESM™) technology has been successfully applied to multiple intracellular inhibitor drug classes. It has been validated clinically in Phase 1 clinical trials, ESM HDAC inhibitors Tefinostat (cancer) and GSK3117391 (healthy volunteer study).
Macrophage Pharma’s initial clinical focus is to target tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) creating a more hostile environment for tumour growth by:
- Reprogramming tumour macrophages to stimulate the anti-tumour immune response
- Reversing immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment
- Converting tolerogenic dendritic cells to effective antigen presenting cells
The company is exploiting a unique and proprietary knowledge base to unleash the full therapeutic potential of ESM™ technology in immuno-oncology.
