Pipeline

A pipeline full of preventative cures

The enormous unmet medical need represented by Lumen’s initial targets also demonstrates the size of its addressable markets.

decoration image
C. difficile Colitis

Product Candidate

C. difficile Colitis

(Clostridioides difficile)

Mode of action: Cocktail of biologics in two formats

Initiated Spring 2018

Phase 1

Traditionally considered a hospital-acquired infection, C. difficile is  increasingly arising in the broader community. For this reason, the shelf-stable, orally delivered format of Lumen’s product is an important addition to the tool kit for treating and preventing this disease. Long-term consequences can include chronic diarrhea, severe intestinal inflammation, surgical resection, and death. Insidiously, the very thing that is used to treat this infection—broad spectrum antibiotics—is also the thing that causes the disease. C. difficile therefore appears at the top of the CDC’s antimicrobial threats list year after year, and in 2009 was estimated to single-handedly drive 2.3% of all US hospital costs.

Covid

Product Candidate

Covid-19

(SARS-CoV-2)

Mode of action: Neutralizing antibody cocktail

Initiated Summer 2020

IND Prep

Covid-19 is widely known as a respiratory disease, but its GI symptoms are well documented. The now-famous ACE2 receptor is abundantly expressed on the cells lining the GI tract, and over half of Covid-19 sufferers show symptoms of GI distress, and up to a quarter show only GI symptoms. GI infection by the virus can have serious long-term effects, and high enteric viral loads are thought to contribute to fatalities from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and wet-lung disease. Lumen’s Covid-19 product is designed to block GI infection and rapidly flush the virus from the GI tract, thereby reducing disease symptoms and potentially reducing transmission rates.

ibd

Product Candidate

IBD

(Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)

Mode of action: Biologic cocktail

Initiated Summer 2021

Preclinical

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a systemic autoimmune disease, but it has an obvious nexus with the gastrointestinal tract. The two main sub-varieties—Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis—have many available treatments on the market today, but it remains a major unmet medical need: current treatments are costly, require inconvenient injection delivery, and come with severe side effects. There are no approved therapies at all for mild-to-moderate Crohn’s. A safe, affordable, orally delivered drug to root out IBD at its source is a straightforward application of Lumen's technology, and would constitute a major advance for the field.

md

Product Candidate

Metabolic Disease

(Cardiometabolic Disease)

Mode of action: Metabolic signaling

Initiated Summer 2021

Preclinical

Cardiometabolic disease (CMD)—a cluster of related conditions that includes obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—afflicts hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and the associated health and economic burdens continue to grow. An estimated 17.9 million people died from CMD in 2019, representing nearly a third of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke. Today, over three quarters of deaths from cardiovascular diseases take place in low- and middle-income countries. Lumen is collaborating with Novo Nordisk, a global leader in CMD, to develop metabolically active molecules produced and delivered using spirulina.

Traveler’s Diarrhea

Product Candidate

Traveler’s Diarrhea

(C. jejuni & E. coli)

Mode of action: Neutralizing antibody cocktail

Initiated 2018

Phase 2

Supported in part by funding from CARB-X and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumen’s traveler’s diarrhea product is a cocktail of neutralizing monoclonal antibody-like protein biologics designed to bind and neutralize the primary causes of traveler’s diarrhea:  the bacterial pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and enterotoxigenic E. coli. In addition to making life miserable for travelers and deployed servicemen and -women, they are a major cause of infant mortality and morbidity in the developing world. Lumen is committed to working with the Gates Foundation and other global health advocates to make these products available in the developing world, regardless of ability to pay.

Our future target initiatives span a range of diseases.