#NewAseBioMember | “AseBio constitutes a meeting point and driving force for the main actors of the biotech industry in Spain”

AseBio. What does your company's work bring to the table and what is its strength?

Diego Pazos: In Lifesome Therapeutics, we develop a novel nanotechnological lipid, Ohmline, capable of self-assembling into different drug delivery vectors. These vectors are versatile structures (liposomes, nanotubes…) capable of transporting a wide range of different drugs, with several sizes and solubility rates. Besides, Ohmline has a unique feature that makes it stand out amongst other vectors in the market: it possesses intrinsic therapeutic activity, which allows its use for the smart design of combination therapies that can increase the efficacy of the encapsulated drug.

In Lifesome, we have tested the antitumoral and antimetastatic activity of our vectors in a wide range of in vitro and in vivo studies. In addition, we have also shown their bacteriostatic capacity, thus supporting further research to use them in the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial diseases, both in human and veterinary health. Finally, we have preliminary evidence of their role as protective agents against chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, an important side effect of some of the treatments used against cancer now, which negatively impacts the quality of life of patients and their families.

AseBio. What is AseBio for you?

Diego Pazos: For us, AseBio constitutes a meeting point and driving force for the main actors of the biotech industry in Spain. AseBio provides us with an ecosystem of communication and collaboration with other companies and research institutes that allows Lifesome to reach our goals of developing products that improve the lives of patients and their families.

AseBio. When did you first hear about AseBio?

Diego Pazos: AseBio is one of the main agents in the Spanish biotech sector and, thus, us in Lifesome knew about them practically since our constitution. For companies as ours, that work in fields as diverse as cancer, microbiology and veterinary, we believe that it is fundamental to have an active role in this type of associations, so we can share our products, projects and results with experts in all these areas.

AseBio. What do you expect from being part of an association like AseBio?

Diego Pazos: In Lifesome, we are a young company formed by a multidisciplinary team that includes experts in biophysics, microbiology and immunology. Collaboration, both between our own members and with other companies and research organizations, is key for us. We are already preparing exciting projects with cutting-edge groups from the Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital Health Research Institute (also a partner of AseBio), the Food Science Research Institute (CIAL) or the Max Planck Institute, as well as with international companies such as Bac3Gel. However, we believe that this is just the beginning, and we hope that being a part of AseBio can help us to add new partners, collaborators and clients to reach our goal: to radically improve drug delivery vectors to transform the lives of patients and their families.

AseBio. What is the biggest challenge facing the biotech sector (or your company)?

Diego Pazos: A big challenge that the biotech sector needs to face constantly is the inefficiency of the process of developing new drugs. This process usually begins with a wide panel of candidate drugs that, after decades of research and thousands of millions of € of investment, results in a very low number of new drugs arriving to our pharmacies and healthcare systems. In summary, it is a long and expensive process in which the vast majority of the initial candidate drugs do not reach the clinical stage. 

But why is this process so inefficient? Sometimes it is due to the low efficacy of the tested drug, but many others it is due to its high toxicity, which is significantly greater than the therapeutic benefits that it offers. So, the following question arises: is there a way to solve this problem? In Lifesome, we believe that introducing our therapeutic drug delivery vectors in the market could help to overcome this issue. It is important to remark that our vectors are not passive agents but active therapeutic molecules targeting the disease (tumors, bacteria…) and, thus, they can help new drugs to reach a clinical stage when combined with them. Thanks to this intrinsic therapeutic activity, drugs under development can exert therapeutic effects with lower doses, which helps to reduce their undesired adverse effects (less toxicity).

In Lifesome, we work to identify synergies when we combine our therapeutic vectors with oncologic and antibiotic drugs authorized for their clinical use. Also, we are glad to collaborate with other groups and companies to identify synergies with products still in development.