Headquartered in Seattle, ALLOZYNE was established, in late 2005, to commercialize proprietary biociphering technology that it licensed, on an exclusive basis, from the California Institute of Technology. The biociphering platforms, CAESAR and VIGENÈRE, are able to site specifically modify any protein sequence through the substitution or addition of non-canonical amino acids, in E. coli, yeast or mammalian systems. These amino acids possess unique chemical functions and create the opportunity to site specifically modify proteins through various conjugations that will lead to an enhanced efficacy, safety and tolerability profile. In essence, these unique amino acids unlock an advanced class of chemical reactions that are superior to conventional methods available for protein modification.

Since its formation, ALLOZYNE has raised $36M and is supported by a top tier venture investor syndicate including MPM, Arch, OVP and Amgen Ventures. The funding has been used to rapidly progress the platforms to practice and build a significant clinical stage pipeline with distinct product opportunities that reflect the breadth of the platform and maintain the company’s focus on addressing areas of unmet medical need in CNS and autoimmune diseases. The company’s lead program, AZ01, is a PEGylated interferon β for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), which is currently in Phase I trials. MS is a chronic disease characterized by demyelination of nerve fibers, which leads to severe nerve damage. Symptoms include fatigue as well as cognitive and visual impairment. There is no cure for MS which affects approximately 400,000 people in the US and 2.5 million people worldwide. In 2009, the worldwide revenue for drugs to treat MS approached $9 billion USD with over 70% of sales coming from the interferon β class of products.

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