Meet Centauri Therapeutics
Centauri Therapeutics launched their new lab at Alderley Park back in May 2022. We caught up with Jennifer Schneider, CEO and Jessica Boyle, VP of Operations to discuss their growth, future ambitions and what it means to be based at Alderley Park.
What does Centauri Therapeutics do?
“We develop immunotherapeutics for infectious disease to address the hardest to treat infections, particularly in the most vulnerable patients. We're focused on developing immunotherapeutics, recruiting the immune system to treat infections that are otherwise untreatable by current therapeutics.”
Tell us a little about your history and story so far.
“Centauri started life in 2014, and in 2015 established a laboratory in Kent where we undertook research using proprietary Alphamer® technology to combat infectious diseases; that's the compound that depletes the immune system to fight infection. 2022 was a significant year for us as we were awarded a second CARB-X contract and concluded Series A investment of £24m. This investment will allow us to develop our approach to combating bacterial infections and antimicrobial resistance.”
Now you’ve secured Series A investment, what does this mean for Centauri Therapeutics?
“The Series A investment, along with the second CARB-X contract, has allowed us to build a team and develop technically unique assays to evaluate the utility of our Alphamers. It facilitated the move to Alderley Park in May 2022, where we have established a laboratory and a team to continue Alphamer research into treating infectious diseases. Initially, it was just a handful of us who were trying to keep the programme running, and now we've got a full team on board, that's huge. We can now focus on making sure that we can move our compounds toward the clinic.”
AMR is a hot topic in the industry at present, how is Centauri Therapeutics working to tackle this issue?
“Well, I've worked in the anti-infectives space forever. One of the reasons why I love this technology is that it really has the potential to do something different in this space. What I have seen a lot of over the years, is a lot of similar chemistry with a bit of novelty, a bit of decoration on it, but really not changing how we were addressing resistance, or who we were able to treat effectively. The technology that we're building here at Centauri, the Alphamer platform, is really focused on bringing the immune system to bear, which is really the piece that's missing from a lot of current therapies. So, we think that we're going to be able to address those patients who are currently underserved and those who are most likely to develop resistant infections. We will be able treat those patients who are currently dying unnecessarily from infection.”
What’s next for Centauri Therapeutics?
“Getting a drug into the clinic! That's what we're all aiming for; that’s how we can make sure that we're having patient impact. We believe that our molecules have the potential to change who can be effectively treated by our drugs, so getting that safety and efficacy data in humans is going to be critical.”
What are you most excited about when moving into your new labs?
“The opportunity to undertake our own scientific experiments and progress research into infectious disease. Whilst we operated virtually, we were dependent on CROs to deliver all of our assays. We now have a ‘home’ so our team can work in the same environment as each other again, rather than virtually. We are also now neighbours with key collaborators – it’s critical to be able to meet face to face with them on occasion to progress our project smoothly.”
What’s the best thing about being based at Alderley Park?
“It’s beautiful! The North West is also a big anti-infectives research area and a lot of the companies that we collaborate with, that undertake work on our behalf, are based here at Alderley Park. So it means that we can make those connections face to face. We've got a space where we can actually meet up and work together instead of just being over computers the whole time and virtually.”