Catalyzing a change in how we treat Alzheimer’s

Covalent Bioscience’s Stephanie Planque explains why longevity therapies should be converting to catalytic antibodies.
Covalent Bioscience was formed by Richard Massey, Sudhir Paul and Stephanie Planque to leverage catalytic antibody tech for unmet medical needs. Catalytic antibodies (sometimes called abzymes or catmabs, but preferably catabodies) are, as you might guess, antibodies that have catalytic abilities, and Paul and Planque made scientific headlines when they engineered a catalytic antibody that could render the HIV virus inert [1].

Covalent Bioscience is developing two catabodies to treat amyloid diseases of the heart, musculoskeletal system and brain, and one catabody for treating tauopathy of the brain. They also hope to expand the medical reach of its platform to on-demand production of catabodies for any pre-specified target protein, generating novel lead products for unmet needs across multiple areas of medicine.

Longevity.Technology: Covalent Bio’s cofounders share the conviction that the biotech’s platform holds the potential to generate superior immunotherapeutic drugs and vaccines. Paul describes catalytic antibodies as having exquisite specificity [2], and using them for novel therapies is an intriguing proposition. Ariel Feinerman, the Founder and Chief Science Officer of IntraClear Biologics, sat down with Principal Scientist Dr Stephanie Planque to find out more about this interesting technology and the platform that leverages it.

From its start in 2010, Covalent Bioscience has grown to a preclinical stage company holding significant assets.

“We have three promising lead products for diseases that proved very difficult to treat and prevent by conventional means,” explains Planque. “Two of them are catabodies for treating age-associated diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and transthyretin amyloidosis. The products are expected to remove toxic aggregates that cause diseases in a more efficient and safe manner than conventional antibodies.”

A therapeutic toolbox
Covalent Bioscience’s main focus is, first, to optimize its on-demand toolbox; this toolbox enables generation of therapeutic catabodies and diagnostic irreversible antibodies with selectivity for virtually any protein target. The company’s second focus is on accomplishing preclinical milestones related to its lead antiaging catabodies, Alzyme and Tauzyme for clearing brain amyloid and tau proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, and Cardizyme for clearing heart and spinal cord amyloid caused by transthyretin, a transport protein in the plasma and CSF that transports the thyroid hormone thyroxine and retinol to the liver.

The technology in play is based on using special chemically modified analogs of the target to isolate or generate catabodies; these are able to permanently modify the target via enzymatic reaction or irreversible antibodies (IrAbs), which bind permanently to the target.

Catalyzing a change in how we treat Alzheimer’s