Product Portfolio

Technology and Product Portfolio

We developed and project to develop further a portfolio of proprietary biotherapeutics based on the human ferritin (HFt). HFt is a physiological caged-like protein that has high solubility and stability in blood as well as low toxicity and has per se the ability to effectively bind to the vast majority of tumor types, solid and hematological, using a receptor-mediated cell internalization (CD71 receptor). HFt is a highly symmetrical multimeric protein consisting of 24 subunits that auto-assemble into a molecular structure with an essentially spherical shell, which encloses a cavity that is physiologically used for storing iron, but can accommodate drug molecules.

Two main lines of preclinical/clinical development are pursued by Thena’s scientists.

Development lines

Targeted Technology

The TARGETED technology exploits the ability of the human ferritin nanocage to entrap different type of chemotherapeutic drug and to deliver them to specific cancer sites reducing drastically non-specific side effects as well as increasing efficacy. The cavity entraps the drug (or drugs) and provides protection to the load from the external environment over its blood circulation to reach the cancer cell.

The enginereed ferritin-based system is designed to be relatively inactive versus non-cancer cells during blood circulation, and subsequently can be activated by multiple proteases in the tumor microenvironment where the therapeutic cargo must be released. In this way, damage to healthy cells is limited and ability to kill cancer cells is increased.

Booster Technology

The BOOSTER technology exploits the ability of human ferritin engineered compounds to greatly enhance the antitumor activity of virtually any type of co-administered drugs as well as to restore immunological response to cancer. This technology works as booster for both approved drug as well as drugs under clinical development.

For these reasons, Thena Biotech is developing a specific pipeline (named BOOSTER), exploiting the ability of the human ferritin carrier for the selective delivery of multiple BioActive Peptides (BAPs). BAPs are short aminoacid sequences endowed with specific functionalities.

Using a genetic engineering-based approach, Thena’s scientists can functionally graft several BAPs into the ferritin nanovector backbone for their selective delivery in the tumor microenvironment.