Recopharma Q&A

When was Recopharma founded?
The company was founded at the end of 2004 as a spin-off from AbSorber AB, which is another company in the LinkMed portfolio. The main reason for this spin-off was to sharpen the commercial focus in each company. AbSorber is now concentrating entirely on the transplant market and can offer an opportunity to work directly with medical professionals. Recopharma’s business model is very different, as it will rely on out-licensing of its leads and co-development of pre-clinical and clinical materials. This business model also relies on LinkMed’s strategic interest in controlling the timely development of core technologies in the portfolios of other companies who use Recopharma.

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What assets exist in Recopharma?
Recopharma’s key asset is a cutting-edge technology and patent portfolio in an internationally recognized field, namely glycomics. This area is regarded among many, including the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the US, as one of the key areas of future drug discovery, drug design and development.

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What is LinkMed?
Founded in 1998, LinkMed is a venture-capital company that offers development capital for early stage companies in the life science sector. LinkMed’s portfolio is comprised of ten companies that are primarily active in areas with significant medical potential, such as cancer, HIV, degenerative diseases, allergies and neurology. The portfolio also includes two companies in the area of medical technology. LinkMed is publically traded on the Stockholm stock exchange. www.linkmed.se

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What is a recombinant mucin?
A mucin is a heavily glycosylated protein, which means that at least 50% of its molecular weight is sugar. Mucins are the constituents of mucus, which can be found along the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal, respiratory and urinary tracts. The specific features of mucus are partly a result of the high degree of sugar substitution.

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What is the role of carbohydrates in cell-to-cell communication?
Carbohydrates can mediate both cell-to-cell and cell-to-microbe (virus, bacteria and bacterial toxins) binding. One of the most important examples of carbohydrate-mediated cell-to-cell interactions is a leucocyte’s binding to the endothelium. This occurs during the transition of leucocytes out of the blood stream and into the tissues (i.e. inflammation).

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What is an epitope?
An epitope is a defined part of a molecule that binds to an antibody.

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What is the advantage of multivalent mucins?
In a multivalent mucin, several copies of an epitope or determinant, such as a specific carbohydrate sequence, can be found on one molecule i.e. the mucin protein backbone. As a result, each mucin can bind to several arms of an antibody or many individual cell-adhesion molecules presented at the cell surface.

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How can this technology be used in drug manufacturing?
It will be possible to produce mucin-based tumor vaccines or inhibitors of microbial adhesion (i.e. oculotropic viruses) for use locally. The manufacturing process will be similar to that of a normal GMP process for the production of protein biopharmaceuticals in mammalian cells.

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What is glycosylation?
This means sugar coating or substitution of e.g. proteins or lipids.

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What is the mode of action of multivalent mucins?
While the mode of action will vary from application to application, the key factor is the structure of the carbohydrate and its multivalent presentation (see Figure 1). Making recombinant, multivalent mucins for different applications is a unique feature of our patent portfolio and we intend to develop this technology further on an industrial scale.

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Who are your end customers?
Our strategy is to operate on a business-to-business basis, meaning that our end customers will be large pharmaceutical players or larger biotechnology companies. Activities will include out-licensing of our own drug candidates and co-development of improved, glycan-optimized biopharmaceuticals.

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How can such problems be resolved with alternative technologies?
Potentially, it is possible to use glycodendrimers or synthetic neoglycoconjugates based on polymers – such as dextran, PEG, heparin, or polyacrylamids – to achieve a multivalent presentation of defined carbohydrate epitopes.

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