Artax Biopharma is turning breakthrough science on T-cell responses into first-in-class therapies for autoimmune diseases. For the company’s CEO, Dr. Rob Armstrong, it’s a level of transformation that’s far from new.

Armstrong shifted into biotech from an established career in academia. After completing his Ph.D. in chemistry and an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in organic chemistry, he joined the faculty at UCLA and gained tenure. But Armstrong says he eventually realized that his interests were more geared toward cross-disciplinary work and left to run small-molecule research and development at the California-based biopharmaceutical company Amgen throughout the tail end of the 1990s.

“I decided I wanted to develop drugs. And the only way to do it really in a serious way is in the industry,” Armstrong recalls. “A lot of people thought I was making a mistake at the time. I certainly never felt that way and still don’t to this day.”

After spending the first decade of the 2000s in senior leadership roles for R&D at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company, Armstrong co-founded Boston Pharmaceuticals in 2015. He served as President and CEO for just over five years before holding various roles on different boards of directors throughout the industry – including the board of Artax Biopharma.

According to Armstrong, his background as a tenured professor has helped his credibility with academics and key opinion leaders, while his years of experience in drug development have forged an invaluable skill set.   

“I became quite an expert in translational medicine, taking the science from a preclinical stage into the clinic,” he explains.

It was that very expertise Artax’s board felt was needed as the company began to ramp up its clinical work heading into 2024. Armstrong was the board chair when the other members asked him to take over as CEO.

“It’s a huge deal, and nobody has ever done this before”

Founded in 2014 by Dr. Balbino Alarcón, Ph.D., in Spain, Artax Biopharma is now based in the Boston area of the United States, with a team of approximately nine members distributed across the US and Europe. Its focus is the development of novel treatments for T-cell-driven autoimmune diseases, such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. Based on Alarcón’s research on T-cell receptor (TCR) signaling, Artax’s therapeutic approach targets the Nck protein to selectively modulate T-cell responses without causing immunosuppression.

Current autoimmune therapies, such as steroids, suppress patients’ immune systems and make them susceptible to infections. Artax’s therapies, however, wouldn’t.

“What this drug does is – we propose – if a patient takes it, the immune system will operate as it normally does,” says Armstrong. “It’s a huge deal, and nobody has ever done this before.”

Early results are in and more studies under way

The company’s lead compound, AX-158, is a first-in-class, oral Nck modulator that has already completed a phase 2a study in patients with mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis. But according to Armstrong, psoriasis was chosen for the initial clinical work because it could provide the best efficacy measurements and biomarker movement within four weeks – the longest study Artax could begin with the amount of toxicology data it had at that time. However, there’s now enough toxicology data to run much longer studies.

“Where we find ourselves now, which is very exciting, is that we’ve established this mechanism actually works in psoriasis in a preliminary study,” says Armstrong. “So we’re going back and doing studies in rheumatoid arthritis as well as atopic dermatitis.”

And alongside those ongoing 2a studies for AX-158, Artax has also been developing other molecules based on the same approach using Nck modulation.

“This mechanism is applicable to a plethora of autoimmune diseases,” says Armstrong, who explains that it can also treat vitiligo, alopecia, and even some childhood orphan diseases, but the same compound won’t be equally effective across different disease states. “We want to have all these different molecules we can work with. It’s going to be different doses, different regimens, different everything. We’re thinking broadly on what the future looks like at this point.”

An early investor and collaborative partner

Not long after Armstrong became CEO, Artax Biopharma closed an $8 million convertible debt financing round with participation from existing investors – including Sound Bioventures, as well as Eli Lilly, Advent Life Sciences, and Columbus Ventures. The financing was also completed ahead of the anticipated Phase 2a psoriasis data.

Sound Bioventures first invested in Artax Biopharma in May 2022 – its first investment as a firm – and remains a shareholder. Co-founder Casper Breum serves on the company’s board of directors.

“He’s up there on the top of board members I’ve interacted with as a CEO,” says Armstrong, who adds that Sound Bioventures has been a consistent source of strong insight and advice for Artax’s next steps.

“I have nothing but great things to say about the fund,” he says.