USA Elixiria Biotech Inc.
Brain- and nerve-penetrant therapeutics for neurological pain and rare neurological disease.
Elixiria develops small-molecule PPARγ agonists engineered to cross the blood–brain and blood–nerve barriers at concentrations existing therapies in this class cannot reach.
Our science
PPARγ is already a proven drug target. Medicines that activate it are approved for type 2 diabetes, and a brain-penetrant PPARγ drug is now approved in Europe for a rare neurodegenerative disease. The same biology also drives nerve inflammation, damaged mitochondria, and oxidative stress — three processes that contribute to neuropathic pain and nerve-cell injury.
The diabetes drugs in this class, pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, do not reach the brain or peripheral nerves well. Raising the dose enough to get there has caused fluid retention and heart-related side effects, which has kept them out of neurological use.
ELB00824 is a new, non-diabetes-class PPARγ drug built to enter nerve tissue and act on that inflammation, mitochondrial damage, and oxidative stress. In published animal studies it reached higher brain levels than existing PPARγ drugs, protected nerve cells and reduced pain sensitivity at a much lower dose than pioglitazone, and did not cause the swelling seen with those older drugs even at many times the effective dose.
Pipeline
Two preclinical programs apply the same brain-penetrant PPARγ mechanism to distinct, high-unmet-need neurological conditions.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy
Painful peripheral neuropathy following platinum-based chemotherapy and taxanes affects a substantial share of treated cancer patients and has no FDA-approved disease-modifying treatment. In published mouse models, ELB00824 reduced oxaliplatin-induced cold and mechanical allodynia and markers of oxidative stress, without impairing oxaliplatin’s antineoplastic activity in vitro.
Undisclosed rare neurological disease
A second program applies the same mechanism to a rare neurological condition with no approved disease-modifying therapy. Program details are available to qualified partners under a mutual confidentiality agreement.
Publications
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2019
Zhang M, Hu M, Montera MA, Westlund KN. Sustained relief of trigeminal neuropathic pain by a blood–brain barrier penetrable PPAR gamma agonist.Mol Pain. 2019;15:1744806919884498. PMID: 31588847.
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2020
Westlund KN, Zhang M. Building and Testing PPARγ Therapeutic ELB00824 with an Improved Therapeutic Window for Neuropathic Pain.Molecules. 2020;25(5):1120. PMID: 32138198.
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2022
Zhang M, Hu M, Alles SRA, Montera MA, Adams I, Santi MD, Inoue K, Tu NH, Westlund KN, Ye Y. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonist ELB00824 suppresses oxaliplatin-induced pain, neuronal hypersensitivity, and oxidative stress.Neuropharmacology. 2022;218:109233. PMID: 36007855.
Intellectual property
Composition of matter covering a family of brain-penetrant PPARγ agonists, including ELB00824.
Composition of matter and methods of treatment for neurological and other diseases.
Team
Morgan Zhang, PhD
Ph.D., The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Postdoctoral research in neuroscience and biochemistry at Columbia University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Karin N. Westlund, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology University of New Mexico. Over three decades in pain research and co-author of the company’s published preclinical studies.
Zhichao Gao
Advises Elixiria on financial strategy and capital planning.
Licensing & partnership inquiries
For business development, licensing, or scientific due diligence requests.