Executive Interview – Oryzon

Carlos Buesa, CEO of Oryzon Genomics, discusses the company’s background and its ambition to lead the development of epigenetic therapeutics. Epigenetics is a relatively young field in terms of drug development and Oryzon is among the leading clinical-stage drug developers with a second generation of epigenetic drugs. Mr Buesa discusses how Oryzon developed expertise in epigenetics, describes its core technology platform and introduces its main products: ORY-1001, ORY-2001 and ORY-3001. The lead product, ORY-1001, is a first-in-class inhibitor of lysine specific demethylase 1 partnered with Roche, which took over further development after Oryzon delivered positive data from the Phase I/IIa in acute leukaemia in December 2016. Roche has also initiated a Phase I trial with ORY-1001 in small cell lung cancer. Oryzon’s second product, ORY-2001, targets Alzheimer’s disease and reported positive Phase I data in early April. Preclinical data also support its use in multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative indications. ORY-3001 has been recently revealed as the third product to enter pre-clinical development in non-oncological indications. Finally, Mr Buesa talks about main newsflow items expected from Oryzon over the next 24-36 months.