Today, popular GLP-1 medicines used for weight loss and diabetes generally require patients to take regular weekly injections or daily pills. FibroBiologics is developing a different approach.
The patent application describes engineering living cells to act like tiny peptide factories inside the body. These cells would be grouped together into small three-dimensional structures called spheroids or organoids. Once administered to a patient, they are designed to continuously produce and release a therapeutic peptide.
What could this mean for patients?
Instead of receiving a GLP-1 drug through repeated injections or pills, patients would be administered the engineered cells one time and then have those cells continuously produce the desired peptide inside the body. By providing consistent levels of a potentially therapeutic peptide, the technology could reduce the need for repeated injections.
The patent application specifically covers GLP-1, GIP and GLP-2 class peptides, among many other potential medicines.
More Than GLP-1
The patent application is not limited to weight-loss or diabetes indications, it also describes possible applications in gastrointestinal diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, wound healing, tissue regeneration, hormone deficiencies, cancer and age-related conditions. The technology could potentially be used to produce many different therapeutic proteins and peptides. The technology could also allow different potentially therapeutic peptides to be produced at the same time and in different amounts depending on the disease or patient.
A Different Way of Delivering Medicine
Pete O'Heeron, Founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, said: "Instead of repeatedly injecting a therapeutic peptide that was manufactured outside the body, our approach is designed to use engineered cells to continuously make and deliver the peptide inside the body. We believe this could potentially offer a fundamentally different way of delivering GLP-1 and other therapeutic peptides."
Key Takeaways from the Patent Application
- A living source of GLP-1, GIP, and GLP-2 class peptides. The application covers organoids and spheroids made from engineered fibroblasts and/or other cells that secrete currently identified therapeutic peptides and other potentially therapeutic peptides and their analogs, continuously from within the body. A single administration is designed to supply steady, physiologic levels of the desired peptide, offering a potential alternative to the weekly injections.
- Therapeutic peptide administered with a tunable ratio. The application covers aggregates that secrete a unimolecular dual or triple agonist, antagonists, and aggregates in which the secretions are separate peptides by the same cells or by distinct cell populations, so the balance between the two hormones can be set for the indication or the patient. Worldwide demand for GLP-1 and dual incretin medicines has been constrained by dose spikes, injection burden, patient compliance, and manufacturing bottlenecks. Continuously secreted peptides from spheroids or organoids are intended to address each of these limitations.
- A platform, not a single product. The claims extend to any therapeutic peptide or polypeptide, and to engineering fibroblasts, stem cells, immune cells, and other mammalian cell types. The described indications span diabetes and metabolic disorders, intestinal and gastrointestinal conditions, autoimmune and inflammatory disease, wound healing and tissue regeneration, hormone deficiencies, cancer, age-related disorders, and longevity.
- Control and safety engineered in. The application describes immune-evasive modifications that support allogeneic, off-the-shelf use, inducible safety switches that allow the cells to be eliminated on demand, integration of the therapeutic gene at genomic safe-harbor sites, and encapsulation in biocompatible scaffolds or retrievable devices, giving physicians multiple ways to govern dose and duration.