Pipeline
Our gut-targeted, multi-specific EV candidates concentrate activity in the GI tract to pursue biologically-validated I&I pathways with minimal systemic exposure. We’re starting in inflammatory bowel diseases and expanding to additional indications.
Ulcerative colitis (UC), a subtype of inflammatory bowel disease IBD), affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S., often during adolescence and early adulthood. UC causes mucosal tissue damage and chronic colonic inflammation, which undermine quality of life and increase risks of cancer and need for surgery, and impose significant healthcare costs. Although systemic immunotherapies (e.g., anti-TNFa, JAK inhibitors) have improved IBD management, they exhibit a clear therapeutic ceiling: only 10–20% of patients achieve sustained remission after one year, potentially due to targeting downstream inflammatory mediators. These therapies also carry risks—immunosuppression, infections, high costs, and burdensome administration—and are primarily reserved for moderate-to-severe cases. Combination treatments (e.g., anti-TNFa plus JAK inhibitor) are increasingly utilized to improve disease control towards the goal of complete, durable remission, but are often not accessible to patients and do not target upstream drivers of disease. Despite a robust pipeline of non-immunosuppressant, oral therapeutics in development, there is a paucity of multi-specific therapeutics targeting root causes of IBD in development.
Our lead candidate, EXP-114, is a potential first-in-class therapy for Ulcerative Colitis, a subtype of IBD involving chronic intestinal inflammation and wounds in the lining of the intestines. EXP-114 aims to deliver multiple natural immune receptor agonists locally to the intestines to promise mucosal wound healing and resolution of inflammation, while avoiding systemic toxicity that has hindered efforts to drug these receptors.