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2027 Scholar-Innovator and ADDF-Harrington
Immunology, Inflammation, Oncology, Rare/Orphan
Enzyme Therapeutics for the Treatment of Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders
2024 Harrington Scholar-Innovator
Physician-scientists such as Dr. Braddock have a laudable goal: translating basic science into patient care. “Physician-scientists have a visceral understanding of medicine and disease, and knowing that patients are suffering drives us,” he says. “Seeing our research move into patient care is our ultimate goal, and there is nothing more satisfying to us professionally.”
That passion is guiding the way for Dr. Braddock and his team as they pursue enzyme therapy to treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its
own healthy tissues and organs.
Enzymes are proteins that facilitate virtually all chemical reactions within cells. They are essential for numerous biological processes, including digestion, muscle and nerve function, and energy production.
Enzymes enable crucial biological processes by changing one molecule into another without being consumed in the process. When the activity of certain enzymes is reduced or impaired by genetic mutations or other factors, it can begin a chain of events that triggers the production of harmful autoantibodies that characterize lupus.
To combat this, Dr. Braddock and his colleagues have developed a stable, potent and bioavailable enzyme-based biologic that has suppressed pathogenic autoantibody formation, tissue damage and death in multiple small animal models of autoimmune and autoinflammatory disease. This biologic is a novel molecular entity with IND-enabling preclinical data, paving the way for its use as a therapeutic.
“In our lab the drug has been very effective in numerous small animal models,” Dr. Braddock says. “The next logical step is proving that in the clinic, then getting it to the patients who will benefit from it.”
"Harrington's professional advisors are eminently skilled and qualified. I've learned so much from them and they were extremely helpful in many key decisions throughout this project."