Our technology
Sutura’s drug conjugate platform enables the development of innovative biomolecular medicinal products which overcome the current limitations of existing medicinal products such as cellular delivery.
Biomolecular medicine is a growing field with many promising new products in development that could help alleviate, or possibly cure diseases that are currently considered hard or impossible to treat.
Examples of this approach include oligonucleotides that bind very specific DNA/RNA sequences in order to modify the expression of a specific gene, or peptides that inhibit specific receptors by direct interaction with that receptor. The great challenge in making effective biomolecule-based medicines is the size and shape of the biomolecule itself which often limits the capacity to enter cells and reach the target. Additionally, biomolecules have biological characteristics that not only make them very effective but also susceptible to naturally occurring degradation systems. These constraints limit the clinical effectiveness of otherwise sophisticated and highly promising biomolecular medicines, and many development efforts are currently focused on improving cell entry and stability to enhance the effectiveness of specific biomolecules.
The drug conjugate platform
Sutura’s drug conjugate platform is a peptide-based system for the development of effective biomolecular medicines. Using Cell Penetrating Peptides (CPPs) which are synthetic biomolecules that consist of a specifically designed peptide domain and an active biomolecular domain specific to the targeted disease, the platform is designed to treat diseases that cannot be treated by conventional small molecules but require specific biomolecules to interact effectively with the disease target.
What sets Sutura apart from other biotechnology companies in this field is its holistic approach toward alleviating the therapeutic limitations of large biomolecules. This involves introducing biological traits that enhance the efficacy of the active domain by improving not only cell entry but also pharmacokinetics, intracellular trafficking, and stability, for example; anything that contributes to improving the efficacy of the active domain.
Sutura is positioned to take this highly ambitious and distinctive approach because of its proprietary design toolbox that permits unprecedented variability and flexibility of design that is required for biomolecule-based medicines to be effective.
Stapled peptides
One of the key techniques used by Sutura is stapling, which allows the introduction of peptide domain characteristics that cannot be achieved otherwise. Stapled peptides are short peptides that contain two unnatural amino acids. These are coupled together by a so-called Ring Closing. They were originally developed to improve cell entry and interaction with their intracellular target. Sutura aims to specifically utilise the unique properties of stapled peptides to improve the efficacy of other active domains such as antisense PMO sequences that enter cells poorly. This is done by the proprietary technology of PeptiGo stapling.
The image shows a Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomer (PMO), which is a type of oligomer molecule (colloquially, an oligo) used in molecular biology to modify gene expression.
Treatment modalities
Sutura’s drug conjugate patform has the potential to improve the efficacy and safety of a broad range of biomolecular medicines. One class of biomolecular medicines Sutura is focusing on is Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomers (PMOs). PMOs are synthetic antisense oligonucleotides that have been designed to be neutral and resistant to degradation. Their function is to bind to very specific RNA sequences to block the binding of other molecules while leaving the RNA molecule intact.
