Going viral
“It turns out that many viruses when they infect your cells actually need the human host NMT to modify the virus protein. For example, in the case of the common cold virus, the viral capsid protein that encapsulates the genome in a virus can’t form if it’s not myristoylated,” explains Ed.
So conserved in biology is myristoylation, that the dependence on NMT isn’t limited to rhinoviruses and the common cold, NMT inhibition has begun to show potential for smallpox and even HIV.
Ed started to generate some interesting results using NMT inhibitors on viruses – so good that it prompted his lab to start a parallel program, with the aim of enabling a more direct path to the clinic.
At this stage, Ed met cell biologist and biotech big hitter, Roberto Solari. Solari, who went on to become founding CEO of Myricx Bio, had been a Vice President at GlaxoSmithKline and CEO of MRC Technology (now LifeArc) where he helped create many a spinout company – including G-protein receptor success-story Heptares, and the world’s first fragment-based drug discovery company, Astex.
He had just arrived at Imperial – a chance to move away from the big pharma to concentrate again on fundamental science and translation. But when, as chair of Imperial tech transfer fund, Ed’s work on NMT inhibitors landed on his desk, the huge crossover with his work on respiratory viruses simply made it too enticing to ignore.
“There’s actually some very cool biology around this that we discovered with Roberto and other collaborators, and we published some nice papers.”, says Ed. “But it was an unexpected outcome, and it made us think, can we form an antiviral company out of this?”
“Roberto knew how to do translation, he knew how to do spin outs, and he knew the investors.”, says Ed. “So, us two and Andy Bell, who brought his formidable track record from Pfizer, formed an investable team to pitch antivirals.”
There was, however, a problem which ultimately stood in the way of an antiviral spinout. To be used safely, it needed to be clear that the patient was suffering from rhinovirus specifically, and they needed intervene within the first 48 hours with an NMT inhibitor to change the course of infection. The common cold causes about 50% of serious cold infections in vulnerable patients, such as those with severe asthma or COPD, but its symptoms can look a lot like other respiratory viruses. And this was in 2018 – pre-pandemic – before the world had become very familiar with lateral flow tests and the idea of confirming within minutes which virus is responsible for a respiratory infection.
