Heat Biologics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class therapies to modulate the immune system, has launched its wholly-owned subsidiary, Skunkworx Bio Inc., focused on the development of a drug discovery paradigm to enable rapid drug development.
 
Skunkworx’s proprietary libraries of “Pocket Biologics” are used to identify miniature proteins which bind to critical domains of druggable targets. The Skunkworx approach aims to enable rapid drug discovery and validation of new innovative therapeutics utilizing advanced computational methods and bioinformatics to further enhance target precision. Skunkworx has successfully identified agonists and antagonists for a number of targets and is in the process of progressing several of these assets through preclinical studies.
 
Matt Seavey, Ph.D., Skunkworx’s executive director of scientific operations, commented, “Our unique process flips the paradigm of drug discovery, as it enables us to rapidly identify novel drug targets to determine if a target is druggable. By utilizing this approach, we have been able to identify lead targets and already have several promising programs underway.”
 
Jeff Wolf, chief executive officer of Heat, commented, “We are extremely proud to launch Skunkworx, an innovative platform to accelerate the path from discovery to preclinical development. Skunkworx augments Heat’s emerging drug development ecosystem designed to efficiently move new biologic programs from discovery into the clinic. New programs will be discovered through Skunkworx, developed at Heat and manufactured at Scorpion Biological Services, Heat’s wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary. This integrated platform is focused on driving innovation by rapidly accelerating the drug development process. We look forward to working with Skunkworx to advance a wide repertoire of drugs across a wide variety of indications, including biosecurity applications, an area of growing importance.”