Promakhos Therapeutics

Promakhos Therapeutics is a Boston, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company founded in the spring of 2021 that develops therapies for chronic inflammatory diseases. Rather than suppressing the immune system, the company's stated approach is to restore the immune system's natural ability to manage inflammation and allow tissue healing, addressing what it describes as the root causes of disease rather than symptoms.

The company frames the clinical problem as a dysfunctional immune response producing chronic inflammation that damages the body and can lead to further disease. It cites Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis as examples of conditions where current therapies work largely by immunosuppression and where, according to the company, only about 25% of patients benefit long term. Promakhos describes itself as a team of entrepreneurs, scientists and drug discovery professionals working on transformative medicines derived from insights into patient biology.

Founding story

Promakhos Therapeutics was founded in spring 2021 by Katerina Chatzi, Ph.D., and Jasper E. Neggers, Ph.D. Chatzi, who serves as Chief Executive Officer and President, conducted biomedical research for over 15 years across four countries on bacterial secretion, protein folding, antibiotic resistance and cell cycle regulation, beginning at the University of Crete with work on tolerogenic immunosuppression during pregnancy in mice, followed by research at Uppsala University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry and microbiology, a research fellowship at KU Leuven in Belgium, and a postdoctoral position in molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University. Participation in business development programs in the Harvard and Massachusetts ecosystems led her to assemble a team and start the company. Neggers, Chief Scientific Officer and Secretary, completed his Ph.D. in functional genomics and chemical biology at the Rega Institute for Medical Research at KU Leuven, where he was among the early scientists to apply CRISPR/Cas to engineer human cells, collaborated with Karyopharm Therapeutics on the mechanism of action of selinexor (XPOVIO) and KPT-9274, and invented a CRISPR-based genetic screening approach for drug target identification. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard on cancer target identification and validation, held a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation fellowship and received a National Cancer Institute Pathway to Independence Award, but declined an academic path and the associated grant funding to co-found the company.

Traction

The company states on its website that it is externally funded, and lists clinical and scientific advisors including Joshua R. Korzenik, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Resnek Family Distinguished Chair in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and founding director of the Crohn's and Colitis Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital.