Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE) and Antios Therapeutics Announce License for Hepatitis B Drug

Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE) announced the licensing of ATI-2173, its leading candidate for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV), to Antios Therapeutics (Antios), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel antiviral therapies for unmet medical needs.

“We are very pleased that a DRIVE technology has a chance to positively affect so many patients in need,” says George Painter, PhD, chief executive officer of DRIVE. “The $25 million in funding raised by Antios is among the largest Series A biotechnology rounds in Georgia history and serves as a validation of the DRIVE model to leverage the physical and intellectual assets of Emory University to develop and de-risk antiviral drugs to a higher value inflection point for adoption by industry.”

“It has been a gratifying experience contributing to this success”, adds Abel De La Rosa, PhD, former chief scientific officer of DRIVE, co-inventor of ATI-2173, and co-founder of Antios.

“Any value this license produces for DRIVE goes right back into our passionate efforts to discover and develop antiviral drugs for neglected infectious diseases like Ebola, SARS/MERS, chikungunya, dengue, viral encephalitis, and for biodefense,” notes David Perryman, chief operating officer of DRIVE. “These critically important and devastating public health threats are our major focus.”

Antios’ program is aimed at developing a curative regimen for chronic HBV, a major unmet global health problem affecting over 250 million people worldwide, and a leading cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

“We are very happy to have partnered with the experts at DRIVE on this urgent need,” adds Idean Marvasty, co-founder of Antios and senior vice president, finance and strategy. “Our team looks forward to developing ATI-2173 as a potentially curative treatment of HBV infections.”

Commented Nicole Vitullo, board member of Antios and a partner at Domain Associates, “We are excited to be working with the team at Antios and believe its lead candidate could be transformative for the field as a whole and for patients suffering with hepatitis B.”

About DRIVE

DRIVE is a not-for-profit LLC wholly owned by Emory University, but with the independence to operate like a biotechnology company. DRIVE applies focus and industry development expertise to efficiently translate discoveries to address viruses of global concern. DRIVE has an internal program working on the discovery and development of nucleoside/nucleotide analogues against infectious diseases including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus infection, chikungunya, viral encephalitis, Ebola, SARS/MERS, dengue, and for biodefense. Learn more at: http://driveinnovations.org

About Antios Therapeutics

Antios Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company devoted to developing innovative therapies for viral diseases. With an experienced and proven leadership team, the company is focused on the development of its lead oral drug candidate for a potentially curative treatment of HBV infections.