AUTOINMMUNE
Vivia's innovative research model can be extrapolated to other therapeutic areas. We believe that the high productivity attained by Vivia in hematologic cancers can be reproduced in order to identify valuable candidates in other diseases.
At present, Vivia is working on finding new treatments based on existing drugs for two diseases which are highly prevalent: Obesity and Autoimmune Diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Vivia is evaluating the possible efficacy of thousands of drugs to eliminate one subtype of immune cells in the blood (B lymphocytes) on samples of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
This action mechanism is exactly the same as the one we have looked for in certain hematologic cancers, and it allows us to apply the same search method to these diseases. Furthermore, this formula is validated, since it is used by the successful drug Rituximab, an antibody used in certain hematologic cancers and autoimmune diseases to selectively eliminate B cells from the immune system.
In order to evaluate Vivia's candidates for these diseases, the company will be collaborating with Dr. Sara Marsal, at Hospital Vall d'Hebrón in Barcelona. She is the clinical head of this project. This specialist has created an internationally-renowned biobank for these diseases, which has a large number of very high quality samples. This biobank allows us to access patient samples selected according to their clinical profile; said samples are always fresh.
Vivia has already identified a potential candidate which could be added to the main biological therapies for these diseases. This would mean finding solutions to one of the pharmaceutical market's needs.
