Amrita Therapeutics, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is a biotechnology startup focused on developing innovative drugs and hybrid devices to address major public health challenges such as cancer, viral, and multi-resistant bacterial infections. Their novel approach centers on multi-disease targeting (MDT), creating treatments that interfere with multiple pathways, reducing side effects, and lowering drug resistance. As a pioneer in MDT drug development, Amrita Therapeutics is poised to deliver cost-effective therapies, potentially revolutionizing drug development similarly to the early antibiotic era. Their proprietary platform holds promise for a new age in biopharmaceuticals.

Research

Amrita Therapeutics is developing novel oncology bacterial peptides related to the microbiome, with products at the discovery and preclinical stage, as follows:

Pipeline

We have designed novel proteins and peptides including ATP-01, a protein with anticancer, anti-HIV/AIDS and anti-inflammatory activity, as well as derived truncated peptides like AT-01, a 30 amino acid peptide with activity against a range of cancers. Mechanism of Action (MOA) studies for AT-01 and its derivative peptides demonstrate both p53 (tumor suppressor) activity and anti-metastasis activity.

ATP-01

In March 2015, Amrita Therapeutics filed a provisional patent application for derived peptides from ATP-01, modified for enhanced anti-cancer activity. Amrita Therapeutics lead candidate peptide drug AT-01C upregulates p53 by stabilizing tumor ruppressor protein SMAR1 both in vitro and in vivo.

In March 2014, Amrita Therapeutics' first utility and PCT patent application relating to novel peptides for use as anti cancer therapies was published by the USPTO and EPO, available here.

In late 2013, Amrita Therapeutics initiated collaborative research on Mechanism of Action (MOA) studies for AT-01 and derivative peptides with Dr. Samit Chattopahdyay, a member of the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT) task force on cancer research and a recipient of the J.S. Bose National Fellow for his work on gene regulation, at the National Center for Cell Science (NCCS) in Pune, India.

In 2012 and 2013, Amrita Therapeutics filed two additional full utility and PCT patent applications for an Antiviral Compositions and Methods Thereform, and also for an innovative hybrid medical device for in situ cancer therapy.

In late 2011, Amrita Therapeutics entered into an early research compound screening program with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Washington, DC that demonstrated anti-cancer properties of peptide AT-01 and its derivatives.

Throughout 2011, Amrita continued and/or initiated research collaboration with apex Indian Research Institutes including the National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delihi, India, the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, and the B.V. Patel PERD Centre, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and with the Instituto Superior Tecnico, in Lisbon Portugal.

In March 2010, Amrita Therapeutics was awarded a grant from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, under the Biotechnology Industry Partnership Program (BIPP).

Amrita Therapeutics also continues to generate candidate drugs demonstrating anti-cancer and anti-viral/parasitic activity. As noted, use of protein products of bacteria avoid the harm to patients caused by the use of the live bacteria themselves.

Publications

Our research has been highlighted in international journals including the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology (January 2012), abstract available here, and in the ISRN Neurology (2012), article vailable here.