{"id":86201,"date":"2021-03-24T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T10:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/?post_type=perspective&p=86201"},"modified":"2022-04-25T11:21:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T11:21:28","slug":"a-stomach-for-innovation-a-qa-with-ceos-of-evelo-biosciences-and-abdul-latif-jameel-health-on-their-exciting-new-adventure","status":"publish","type":"perspective","link":"https:\/\/alj.com\/en\/perspective\/a-stomach-for-innovation-a-qa-with-ceos-of-evelo-biosciences-and-abdul-latif-jameel-health-on-their-exciting-new-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"A stomach for innovation?
A Q&A with CEOs of Evelo Biosciences and Abdul Latif Jameel Health on their exciting new adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2021, Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/a> announced its first commercial partnership for therapeutic medicines with US-based Evelo Biosciences<\/a>, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new modality of orally delivered medicines.<\/p>\n

Under the recently announced agreement, the two companies will collaborate to develop and commercialize Evelo\u2019s lead inflammation product and COVID-19 therapeutic medicine candidate, EDP1815 across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Akram
Akram and Simba Shake Hand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We caught up with Dr. Simba Gill<\/a>, Chief Executive Officer of Evelo Biosciences, and Akram Bouchenaki<\/a>, CEO of Abdul Latif Jameel Health, to discuss the science; the ambitions behind the new collaboration and the opportunities they hope to explore.<\/p>\n

What is novel about the medicines that Evelo are developing?<\/h2>\n
\"Dr.
Dr. Simba Gill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0 At Evelo, our focus is on a newly uncovered area of biology.\u00a0 It\u2019s recently been established that the small intestine governs biology throughout the body.\u00a0 It senses microbes in the external environment and, depending on what it senses, is able to modulate biology throughout the body.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very simple and fundamental part of our biology that we\u2019ve not known about before.<\/p>\n

This opens up the possibility of delivering pharmacological agents to the relevant cells in the small intestine, which direct them to modulate a particular response throughout the body.<\/p>\n

What that translates to, which we\u2019ve now validated clinically, is the ability to create a completely new profile of medicine that is effective and orally delivered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One that can be developed, manufactured, and distributed on an affordable basis, and is room-temperature stable.\u00a0 That may sound obvious \u2013 a drug that is effective, safe, affordable, and room-temperature stable \u2013 but actually, <\/em>very few biotech medicines have that profile.<\/p>\n

\"The
Evelo\u2019s platform is based on delivering their microbes to relevant cells in the small intestine, thus directing them to modulate a particular response throughout the body. (Image Credit \u00a9 https:\/\/jackmanchiu.com\/evelo-bioscience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What benefits does this deliver?<\/h2>\n

SG:<\/strong>\u00a0 If you can develop medicines with this profile, it delivers two big benefits.\u00a0 First, it makes it much easier to treat what we call \u2018the majority world\u2019, that is, the soon-to-be 9 billion people who live outside the wealthy nations of the World.<\/p>\n

Currently, only a very small percentage of patients who would benefit from biotech drugs are actually able to access them.\u00a0 A lot of this is down to price.\u00a0 For example, a typical inflammatory drug in the US is priced at around US$ 60,000 per course of therapy per patient.\u00a0 That\u2019s obviously limiting for the majority world.<\/p>\n

Another limitation is the stability of the drug.\u00a0 To be viable in the majority world, the drug needs to be room-temperature stable, so it can be administered in a wide range of settings.\u00a0 But as we\u2019ve seen with the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and issues around storage, that is hard to achieve.<\/p>\n

\"EveloSafety and tolerability are also essential considerations.\u00a0 Most drugs have side-effects and tolerability issues because of what we call \u2018off-target engagement\u2019.\u00a0 For example, in a simplistic sense, chemotherapy attacks and destroys any cell that is rapidly dividing.\u00a0 But that not only includes cancer cells, it includes other cells that rapidly divide, too, such as our hair cells, which is why cancer patients often lose their hair.\u00a0 This is true for almost every drug at different levels, but it can be avoided with our novel medicines.<\/p>\n

The data that we\u2019ve recently reported has shown that we can drive meaningful clinical effect in inflammation with a drug that is well-tolerated and room-temperature stable.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also now scaled-up our manufacturing to ensure that we can develop and manufacture on a very affordable basis, which makes it much easier to treat that majority world, including obviously Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and other high growth markets.<\/p>\n

\"The
Preclinical and clinical data show that EDP1815 can drive activity across multiple anti-inflammatory immune pathways (Image Credit \u00a9 https:\/\/jackmanchiu.com\/evelo-bioscience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second big benefit of the profile of our potential medicines is that it makes it easier to treat disease as early as possible.\u00a0 Most major chronic diseases aren\u2019t effectively treated early on.\u00a0 Inflammation and the dysregulation of the immune system are central drivers of most major chronic diseases across all sorts of different areas, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson\u2019s, dementia, Alzheimer\u2019s, asthma, food allergy, dermatitis, psoriasis, Crohn\u2019s disease\u2026\u00a0 the list goes on.\u00a0 But we don\u2019t treat them early because we don\u2019t have that profile of orally delivered, safe, affordable and effective medicines which ideally are room-temperature stable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This new profile of drugs we are developing enables us to intervene at all stages of disease, shifting healthcare to something that is much more about preventing the development of serious disease, allowing us to live much longer and healthier lives as we go forward.\u00a0 The initial focus is on inflammation, but it has much broader application than that.\u00a0 It will also impact metabolic diseases and conditions, like diabetes, because diabetes and obesity are all linked to inflammation as core drivers.<\/p>\n

\"Abdul<\/p>\n

How do you hope to make these drugs affordable?<\/h2>\n

\"\"SG:<\/strong> There are two elements to this.\u00a0 One is that the way we manufacture our products, and the way we can distribute them, is much more cost-effective than classic biotech drugs.<\/p>\n

For example, cell therapies, which are very much in vogue right now, are extremely complex to manufacture, and because of that, they\u2019ll always be very expensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I reject the idea that innovation needs to be associated with high price.\u00a0 Our products are, in the first instance, specific forms of bacteria.\u00a0 The manufacturing process is still very complex, but once you\u2019ve figured it out, you can scale it up extremely cost-effectively.<\/p>\n

Plus, the fact it is room-temperature stable means it is easier and cheaper to ship it around the world as you don\u2019t need special refrigerated facilities.\u00a0 And it is easier and cheaper to administer if you can give someone a tablet, rather than needing to inject them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second point is the business model.\u00a0 Traditionally, the biotech industry was predicated on a high price, low volume model, like the luxury goods market.<\/p>\n

But if you are brave and can flip that around to focus on high volumes and lower prices, it opens up the potential to help billions of people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To do that, you need to create a mindset that prioritizes the value in treating billions of people.<\/p>\n

Arguably, it\u2019s the most important thing we can do to improve humanity right now, more so even than the environment.\u00a0 Protecting our environment is obviously critically important, however damage to the environment is not going to drive negative impact at a global scale for probably about a generation, whereas right now there are billions of people whose lives could be drastically improved with better access to effective medicines.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re selling to billions of people, the fact the unit price is lower is not an issue, commercially.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about high-volume innovation, and that\u2019s completely new as a concept.<\/p>\n

Simba, what attracted you to the collaboration with Abdul Latif Jameel Health?<\/h2>\n

SG:<\/strong> The fit between our two organizations is just fantastic.\u00a0 You need courage and vision to try and do things that have never been done before, and Abdul Latif Jameel Health has plenty of both.<\/p>\n

\"\"It is very much aligned with our mission to impact global healthcare with novel medicines that can be distributed to a large population at an affordable price.<\/p>\n

The classic biotech multinational will always prioritize the US, and then probably Europe and Japan in that order, depending on the company, and then as an afterthought, you have all the other geographies.\u00a0 But Abdul Latif Jameel Health does not think like that.\u00a0 There is an entrepreneurial spirit and an understanding of the world that one will not get, certainly in an America-based multinational, or even in a Europe-based multinational.<\/p>\n

The strong sense we had was that Abdul Latif Jameel Health really understands these markets, these \u2018majority world\u2019 geographies, and understands how to act entrepreneurially to create something significant in these territories.<\/p>\n

Akram, what was it about Evelo that fitted into the mission of Abdul Latif Jameel Health?<\/h2>\n

\"\u201cFirstAB:<\/strong>\u00a0 There are a number of factors that made the Evelo partnership such a strong one for us.\u00a0 First is the science.\u00a0 The innovation that Evelo has developed,\u00a0and the excellent research, the clinical work, and the speed at which they have developed their therapies is really unique, especially given the current circumstances with the pandemic.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I truly believe it will unlock a whole new field of medicine for the future.\u00a0<\/span>Second is the vision to provide access to innovative medicines to a largely under-served parts of the world, which intersects perfectly with our own ambitions.\u00a0 It is at the core of the Abdul Latif Jameel Health mission, and now we are seeing it in motion.<\/p>\n

The third element is my relationship with Simba and the deep respect and admiration I have for what he has achieved, not only at Evelo, but from his earliest days in the research labs in the UK and his role at Maxygen, which was a pioneer in the field of biotech, through to more recent involvement at a number of biotech innovators, like Gilead Sciences, where we first met over 20 years ago.\u00a0 These are the three elements that make the deal such an important one for me.<\/p>\n

Could you explain the nature of the collaboration and what you hope to achieve?<\/h2>\n
\"Dr.
Dr. Akram Bouchenaki, Ph.D.
\nCEO Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AB:<\/strong> The collaboration is very classic in the sense that Evelo is the innovator company, and we are building the channel to commercialize and make that innovation available.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s the simple high-level picture.<\/p>\n

In detail, the interesting angle is that Evelo and Abdul Latif Jameel Health are jointly going to build the market for this compound.\u00a0 We need to educate and inform the medical community about the importance of these new medicines.\u00a0 So, there is an important piece of work that needs to happen, and that we will be doing this together and jointly with Evelo.<\/p>\n

We are also supporting Evelo as an investor, as well as a commercial partner, which reinforces the alignment and the collaboration between the two groups.<\/p>\n

SG<\/strong>: Evelo\u2019s core focus is on innovation and translating scientific innovation to clinical results.\u00a0 We\u2019ll take the lead on that.\u00a0 Abdul Latif Jameel Health has a strong presence in all the relevant markets across Africa and the Middle East, and so they will lead on building out the infrastructure and the capabilities, and everything that\u2019s associated with opening up those territories.<\/p>\n

There are about 1.7 billion people in the geographies we\u2019ll be targeting, maybe more.<\/p>\n

Our goal at Evelo is to get our medicines to people in need on a global basis, so this really matters to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n