Intrepid Investors Eye Use Of Pig Whipworm Eggs To Quell Crohn’s Disease and MS

Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald is a familiar name onWall Street, a long-time investor with 23 years of experience as a biotechnology entrepreneur, instrumental in founding and recapitalizing a large number of public and private life sciences companies, including Cougar Biotechnology which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $1 billion in 2009.

The latest company he has formed is again catching the eye of biotech investors: Coronado Biosciences (CNDO), which is developing two therapies that alter the activity of the immune system. Its probiotic treatment consists of “Trichuris suis ova (TSO),” or non-infectious porcine whipworm eggs, to quell inflammation and abnormal immune function that causes such autoimmune diseases as multiple sclerosis (MS), inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes.

“The lead indication is Crohn’s Disease, though MS is not far behind,” says Dr. Keith A. Markey, life sciences analyst at investment firm Griffin Securities. Its second program, he notes, relies on a proprietary method to activate natural killer cells of the innate immune system to combat cancer. Those killer cells, which have shown promise against solid and hematological malignancies, are being developed to treat acute myeloid leukemia, says the analyst.

“Coronado has a proprietary method of activating the killer cells ‘ex vivo’ to create a personalized medicine for a variety of malignancies, says Dr. Markey. Coronado is collaborating with European companies on the probiotic project and will likely seek other foreign companies to market its natural killer-cells therapy, he adds.