PORTFOLIO

Protozoan parasites represent a major threat to human/animal health and food security due to limited success in developing broadly applicable vaccines and to the emergence of multiple drug resistance pathogens against most of the available drugs. There is a rising and urgent need for new and safe drugs with novel mode of action to help the fight against the multiple diseases of Humans, Animals and in Agriculture caused by parasites. At ASTRA Therapeutics we have developed an innovative strategy to specifically target Tubulin from parasites, which is a key protein conserved in all eukaryotic pathogens required for cell division. Our goal is to bring precision to anti-parasitic drug discovery. We are designing and developing specific drugs, called Parabulins®, that can differentiate between the parasites and their hosts. Our approach has the potential to revolutionize the way infectious parasitic diseases were managed till now.

This project set out to apply our innovative drug discovery approach—originally validated against Toxoplasma gondii, a major pathogen in immunocompromised and transplant patients—to address the critical shortage of new veterinary antiparasitic drugs and the growing problem of drug resistance. Supported by the Innobooster program, we advanced the scientific and technical foundations required for the future design of novel, selective anti-parasitic compounds for animal health.

Key Achievements
- In-house platform established: We fine-tuned the key capabilities to design and screen new antiparasitic candidates using integrated computational drug design and cell-based assays in model organisms.
- Team capacity expanded: We strengthened ASTRA Therapeutics’ expertise in veterinary drug development, regulatory strategy, and business development to support future R&D and commercialization.
- Strategic collaborations initiated: We engaged with leading animal health companies to explore co-development and out-licensing opportunities and partnered with specialized service providers and academic groups to enhance chemistry, screening, and structural biology workflows.

As a drug discovery project, this work was understood from the outset to be lengthy and high-risk, with no expectation of delivering a market-ready product within the project timeframe. Instead, the project has generated critical scientific and operational knowledge that will help de-risk and accelerate the development of successful antiparasitic drugs in the future. It has helped close a long-standing innovation gap in veterinary medicine, where the development of entirely new drug classes has been limited for decades. By leveraging detailed structural comparisons of parasite and Gebert Rüf Stiftung – Instruction Sheet: Publishing your Project on our Website 10.3.2021 Page 1 of 2host tubulin binding sites, we have laid the foundation for the rational design of highly selective compounds with minimized off-target effects and maximized antiparasitic efficacy.

The project will be continued through ASTRA Therapeutics AG, now a fully operational company dedicated to developing novel parasiticides for Animal Health. Several industry leaders have expressed interest in formal collaborations following the project’s results, and the knowledge base and infrastructure created here will directly support the advancement of our discovery programs into the next phase of optimization. Financial leverage has already been achieved through both non-dilutive Innosuisse funding and significant venture capital investment, providing the resources necessary to progress towards future product candidates.