Infectious disease firm Visterra debuts

Infectious disease company Visterra Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) made its public debut by announcing its first pharma deal and presenting preclinical data for its lead compound. Visterra partnered with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) to discover antibodies using the biotech's atomic interaction network analysis technology for undisclosed indications. Visterra will receive an upfront payment and research funding, and will be eligible for R&D milestones, plus royalties. Visterra's technology characterizes proteins as a 3D network of amino acids and covalent and non-covalent interactions. Visterra said the technology allows for the identification of unique targets and epitopes. Visterra declined to provide details on the partnership or financial terms. Pfizer did not provide comments in time for publication.

Visterra also presented preclinical data for VIS410, a broad spectrum mAb against a hemagglutinin protein of influenza A, at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting in San Francisco. Visterra believes that VIS410's target is not only conserved across all influenza A strains, but also resistant to mutation. In prophylactic studies, 100% of healthy mice who received a single dose of VIS410 survived infection with a lethal dose of either H1N1 or H3N2 influenza A virus. In post-infection studies, 100% of mice treated with a single dose of VIS410 up to 72 hours after infection survived. Visterra plans to begin Phase I testing of VIS410 in 2014. ...