Overview
Avaxia is an early-stage biotechnology company developing Avaximabs™, gut-targeted antibody therapeutics which are orally administered, minimally absorbed drugs that are designed to act locally in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Our first program is Avaximab™-TNF, an orally-delivered anti-TNF antibody for inflammatory bowel disease.
The development of Avaximab™-TNF leverages the prior successful work at Avaxia with a product called AVX-470. AVX-470 was a milk-derived anti-TNF polyclonal antibody that was evaluated in a Phase 1b clinical trial in patients with active ulcerative colitis. The data generated with AVX-470 in both animal models and the phase 1b clinical trial established the feasibility of orally-dosing patients with GI inflammatory disease with a milk-derived antibody.
Avaxia has now identified the structural basis for the ability of milk-derived antibodies to survive in the GI tract and has transferred these key attributes to a recombinant platform.
The key characteristics of Avaximabs include:
- Stable to intestinal digestion
- Minimal systemic exposure
- Penetrate into inflamed gut mucosa
- Potential for local activation of effector functions
Avaxia is located in Lexington, Massachusetts.