MaaT Pharma is charting new territory in oncology by positioning microbiome-driven therapy as a potentially promising new pillar alongside traditional treatments.
In this discussion, CEO and Co-founder Hervé Affagard shares how the company's unique approach to microbiome-driven therapies is transforming cancer treatment outcomes.
Founded a decade ago, MaaT Pharma distinguished itself by focusing on oncology rather than infectious diseases, specifically targeting acute Graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD). Its lead drug candidate , MaaT013, has shown remarkable results in a Phase 3 trial, improving one-year survival rates from 15% based on historical data to 54% (probability of survival) in third-line aGvHD patients.
What sets MaaT Pharma apart, according to Affagard, is a “full ecosystem approach” which maximizes bacterial diversity and allows standardization, rather than focus on individual strains. “We are the most advanced company in the world mastering this full ecosystem approach in oncology with positive Phase 3 results and ongoing Phase 2 trials as we speak today.”
MaaT Pharma leverages artificial intelligence to design products that rebuild immune homeostasis, either by restoring destroyed microbiomes or enhancing dysfunctional ones. This approach shows promise not only in aGvHD, but also in improving the efficacy of treatment in blood cancers and in immunotherapiesfor solid tumors.
With two microbiome products already approved in the US and regulatory pathways becoming clearer, Affagard sees the next challenge as convincing pharmaceutical companies of microbiome products' commercial potential. The company’s impressive aGvHD results position it well for this next phase of growth.
Want to learn more? Tune into the full interview today!
Rebecca Willumson: Hi there. My name's Rebecca Willumson, and I'm the publisher of Fierce Biotech and I'm here today with Hervé Affagard, CEO and co-founder of MaaT Pharma.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Hervé Affagard: Thank you, Rebecca, for the invitation.
Rebecca Willumson: So to start us off, can you provide me with an overview of MaaT Pharma's mission?
Hervé Affagard: MaaT Pharma's mission is really about improving survival in patients where there's a high unmet medical need. In support of that mission, we have chosen to position the first development in graft versus host disease (GvHD), which is a very high unmet medical need, one of the most significant unmet medical needs in the field today.
Rebecca Willumson: So to follow up from that, tell me what makes MaaT Pharma's approach different from others exploring microbiome-based therapies and how are you positioning yourself uniquely within the microbiome therapy space?
Hervé Affagard: We created the company 10 years ago. At that time, most of the microbiome company, they were positioning themselves in infectious disease. We wanted to go in oncology and we have chosen GvHD because we wanted also to show that the microbiome could help in modulating the immune system. So what we’re doing with our drug candidates is about modulating the immune system, which sets us apart from other microbiome companies, which are more, I would say, restoring the microbiome with a purpose to treat infectious disease. Our position is very different and by dealing with the modulation of the microbiome, we can also potentially improve the overall survival of patients.
Rebecca Willumson: Now the microbiome is increasingly recognized as crucial for health and disease. Can you explain how it's particularly relevant for oncology and why MaaT Pharma is focused in this area?
Hervé Affagard: So the way we see it in oncology is that, you have several ways of innovation. It started with surgery, chemotherapy, precision medicine, and since like 20 years, it's about immunotherapy.
Now what MaaT Pharma is doing and especially with our lead drug candidate, MaaT013, is that we are developing a new pillar in oncology. That's microbiotherapy. And why microbiotherapy is relevant in oncology, it's because patients are going to have a microbiome that's going to be absolutely destroyed by the treatments such as chemotherapy.
Rebecca Willumson: So tell me, how does MaaT Pharma leverage the gut microbiome to potentially treat cancer?
Hervé Affagard: MaaT Pharma aims to rebuild what we call the immune homeostasis, which is the connection between the immune system and the microbiome. So the way we do that, it's either you have a microbiome which is absolutely destroyed and you're going to use MaaT013, for example, or you have a microbiome, which is dysfunctional but not destroyed. In that case, we are going to use other products that we design to restore the microbiome to respond to immunotherapy, for example. We use artificial intelligence to design the product itself, and then we are going to inject into the gut of the patient a certain microbiome that's going to be useful to improve the efficacy of immunotherapies.
And what's unique with MaaT Pharma is that we have an approach, based on a full-ecosystem approach. We are maximizing the number of bacteria within the gut as opposed to have one or two bacteria added that we add to the microbiome. That's really what makes us unique and we have developed a technology that we call a pooling technology. This proprietary technology is referred to as pooling because it involves a strict procedure for combining multiple donor samples to ensure standardization, high richness and diversity, adhering to the highest safety standarsds. And we are the only company in the world mastering this technology as we speak today.
Rebecca Willumson: So tell me, what potential do you see for microbiome therapies in oncology and how is MaaT Pharma leading in this area?
Hervé Affagard: Today we have made the first proof of concept that it works pretty well, but the potential is very large because if you think about other therapies, we have mentioned already immunotherapies where we can improve responses. So if you take certain immunotherapies such as in melanoma, it works pretty well. But in other indications, like in lung cancer, we are still remaining with more than half of the patient that are not responding. So with the microbiome approach, we think that we can improve that, but this could go beyond immunotherapies, such as cellular therapy. We know that with the dysfunctional microbiome, for example, car T-cell, T-cell therapies, they're also suboptimal in terms of the effect on the patient. So the potential is really huge.
Rebecca Willumson: Now, MaaT Pharma recently announced the company's Phase Three ARIES data for its lead drug candidate, as you mentioned. What did the results show and what is the significance of these results? And then what's next for MaaT Pharma?
Hervé Affagard: So this trial is very, very important. We announced just recently the data and they're already good. Why is it important? Because it's the first time we can demonstrate that a microbiome product can deal with an immuno-related disease. In GvHD, we are positioned in third line, which means that the patient has received steroids and Ruxolitinib, which are the standard of care. And those patients, they're in a very difficult situation. Half of the patients will die within the first 28 days. The survival of those patients at one year is 15% (Source: Abedin et al 2021 BJHaem) and here with the data that we have announced, the probability of survival is 54% at one year.
So the benefit for the patients in line with the mission of the company is just enormous. And what we have announced also is that this improvement in survival correlates with the achievement of the primary endpoint. So we have engraftment, we achieve the primary endpoint. So this was really a big win for the company and this validates the entire platform because the rest of the portfolio, the candidates we are developing will follow the same kind of rationale of restoring the microbiome to restore the immunostasis.
Rebecca Willumson: So looking ahead, what are some opportunities and challenges that you believe are shaping the future of what's next in oncology in the microbiome therapy space?
Hervé Affagard: In certain aspects, there's less and less challenges. So for example, in the US, there have been already two products approved, the regulatory pathway is pretty clear in the different regions. The US has been taking the lead on that. Europe is following. We have two drug candidates that are entering the process of filing, including MaaT Pharma's. So on the regulatory standpoint, that's better and better. I think the next challenge will be to convince the pharmaceutical companies that microbiome products can be a commercial success as well. And that's where also I believe MaaT Pharma is well-positioned because in oncology, the severity of the patient is so important and the benefit that we have showed are compelling, so I'm expecting the pharmaceutical companies also to look to what we are doing.
Rebecca Willumson: That was a perfect place to close out. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Hervé Affagard: Thank you, Rebecca.