PureTech adds potential IBD therapeutic to pipeline after buying out Alivio Therapeutics

PureTech Health has acquired all remaining shares of its founded entity Alivio Therapeutics, five years after launching the company, adding a number of anti-inflammatory therapeutic candidates to its pipeline as a result.

Alivio is developing therapeutic candidates for a number of inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Now that PureTech has acquired the remaining 22% of outstanding shares  in Alivio, it will fully integrate these candidates into its wholly owned development pipeline.

Alivio’s technology platform can combine a biologic agent and a small molecule drug into a single oral dosage form, potentially offering an enhanced treatment for certain inflammatory diseases by maximising efficacy and minimising toxicity.

Among these candidates is LYT-500, an orally-administered therapeutic candidate currently in development for the treatment of IBD.

LYT-500 is comprised of two active agents, designed to selectively act on the inflamed tissues while reducing their impact on normal tissues. The candidate contains a combination of IL-22 and an anti-inflammatory drug, in a bid to address the two key underlying causes of IBD pathogenesis and progression.

In addition to LYT-500, PureTech will also add LYT-503/IMB-150 to its pipeline, a potential non-opioid treatment for interstitial cystitis or bladder syndrome which is currently being developed in collaboration with Ibrium Therapeutics.

“PureTech founded Alivio alongside leading scientists Jeffrey Karp, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT to pioneer a novel strategy to more effectively treat inflammatory disorders through highly targeted immunomodulation at the site of disease,” said Daphne Zohar, founder and chief executive officer of PureTech.

"This promising approach fits well within our wholly owned pipeline and we will be able to leverage our strength in immunology and related technologies as we progress therapeutic candidates to potentially treat inflammatory diseases,” she added.

Elsewhere in its pipeline, PureTech has therapeutic candidates in various stages of development for the treatment of a range of conditions and diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory complications and related sequelae of Long COVID, breast cancer-related upper limb secondary lymphedema and metastatic solid tumours.