Aptorum Group said that it will undertake the development of CLS-1 microbiome drug candidate and certain repurposed drug candidates for the treatment of obesity and neuroblastoma, respectively.

Based in Hong Kong, Aptorum Group is a pharma company focused on the development of new drugs to treat unmet medical needs.

The company said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Claves Life Sciences, which operates the microbiota modulation platform, has started the preclinical development of macromolecule candidate CLS-1 for obesity treatment. The obesity drug candidate CLS-1, which is currently under lead optimization process, is expected to advance into the IND enabling stage next year.

Aptorum Group believes that as pharmacotherapy has little ability in obesity treatment and also has significant side effects, CLS-1 has a potential market opportunity in addressing this medical need.

CLS-1, which has been designed as an oral medication, is a non-absorbable macromolecule that is claimed to regulate the metabolite excreted by gut microbiota. Through this approach, Aptorum Group is of the opinion that the absorption of the particular metabolite, which is associated with obesity, can be inhibited.

Aptorum Group is also engaged in two more indications based on the regulation of the microbiota-based chemical signaling involving the large molecule technology.

The company said that another of its subsidiaries – Smart Pharma Group has wrapped up computational screening of nearly 1,615 marketed drugs against three therapeutic target proteins to possibly address poor prognosis of neuroblastoma. Smart Pharma Group did the computational screening using its Smart-ACT computational drug discovery platform.

Neuroblastoma is a rare type of childhood cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue, most frequently in the adrenal glands and also spine, abdomen, chest, and neck.

Aptorum Group is testing a batch of repurposed medications in cell-based and animal models so that it can validate their usage for neuroblastoma and their potential efficacies.

The company is also engaged in targeting two more indications under the smart-ACT drug discovery platform.

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