Etiome, a new Flagship startup, looks to catch disease before it strikes
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter.
Flagship Pioneering unveiled its latest biotechnology startup on Thursday, a company aiming to map the progression of diseases and tailor medicines to stages of a patient's journey.
Called Etiome, the biotech wants to take on a slew of medical conditions, from Parkinson's disease and rheumatoid arthritis to the common liver condition known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It's starting up with $50 million from Flagship, the biotech company creator that founded Moderna.
Etiome's name is a portmanteau of etiology — a disease's origin — and the 'omics' sciences that study types of biological molecules. The company was born out of an initiative within Flagship to develop preventive medicines. It's using a type of AI technology and a trove of health data to closely analyze the various biological changes that occur as certain diseases take hold. It hopes to use this information to pinpoint markers of different disease 'stages,' better understand which people are more likely to progress, and intervene with a medicine before they do.
Without that detailed data, it can be hard for drugmakers to figure out why some medicines don't work on certain people, and why disease moves faster in some but not others. Having it should 'lead to a dramatic increase in probability of success of the drugs that we push forward," said Etiome president and Flagship origination partner Scott Lipnick.
In Parkinson's, for example, Lipnick noted how there may be different molecular processes driving a person's struggle to walk or control their brain, necessitating different therapeutic interventions. In metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, certain changes might underlie the progrssion from a fatty liver to inflammation and eventually cirrhosis.
If Etiome can understand those changes and target them at the right time, 'we know it's not too late,' Lipnick said. 'That's when you actually need to make a difference.'
Like many other Flagship startups, Etiome is launching with lofty ambitions. The company aims to develop medicines that can slow, stop or even reverse a variety of conditions, though it hasn't yet revealed specific drug programs or when human testing might begin.
A tough funding climate has made it difficult for startups to pursue a journey like that, in turn heightening the importance of pharmaceutical partnerships. A Flagship initiative focused on fostering alliances for its portfolio companies has yielded several deals over the last year or so, and Lipnick said such collaborations are 'key.'
'We are not going to do everything alone,' he said.
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