A start-up company founded by Professor Gilbert Walker and PhD candidates Logan Zettle and Samantha McWhirter of the Department of Chemistry (among others) has just won $250,000 in funding to test a therapeutic aimed at treating heart failure in sepsis patients.
Samantha McWhirter, a PhD student in the Walker group, pitched a therapeutic product at the ECHO PITCH event, a special event where four top cardiovascular health start-ups compete for funding from a $250,000 pool in front of a panel of judges and a live audience, on October 17th.
McWhirter pitched on behalf of NorthMiRs, an early-stage biopharma startup developing micro RNA therapies for the treatment of sepsis-induced organ failure.
Sepsis is an exaggerated, systemic, immune response to an infection that often leads to multiple organ failure. Patients with sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction experience high mortality rates, lengthy recovery times and serious long-term effects.
“The current standard of care for sepsis patients is inadequate - antibiotics or antivirals are given to deal with the source of infection. Then supportive care is used, such as mechanical ventilation and fluid management. It is the most common cause of death of critically ill patients and the most expensive reason for hospitalization,” said McWhirter. “In 2022, we spent around $1B treating sepsis patients in Ontario alone.”
The project is a collaboration between the Walker group and the lab of Claudia dos Santos, as well as researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital and even the University of Vermont. NorthMiRs was built upon the work of dos Santos, a professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and an active critical care physician at St. Michael's Hospital.
McWhirter has been pitching for NorthMiRs since last summer. “We had a lot of mentors and coaches along the way that helped us improve every time. That cumulative growth led us to success this time around.”
Entrepreneurship for Cardiovascular Health Opportunities (ECHO) is a specialized experiential training program funded and organized by the Translational Biology and Engineering Program, at the University of Toronto and the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, in partnership with the Health Innovation Hub (H2i). The program provides innovators of cardiovascular technologies with entrepreneurship training, mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities.
McWhirter explained that NorthMiRs is working first on a therapeutic intended to treat heart failures triggered by sepsis.
“Our second therapeutic,” she added, "Will be for lung injury, also as a result of sepsis.”
"This funding win is really important. Being recognized by an esteemed judging panel of industry experts was a proud moment, as it represents a lot of the hard work that NorthMiRs has done over the last 2+ years developing our story, science and business model.”
Professor Gilbert Walker of the Department of Chemistry pointed out that the technology NorthMiRs has developed received a strong push during COVID-19. He said “Nearly everyone who died from COVID-19 died from sepsis. And one in five deaths overall will continue to occur due to sepsis, without the development of new therapies."
"Because the disease is so heterogeneous, there will not be a single solution for all patients. Our approach is focusing mainly on one organ at the moment.”
“This funding will be used to fund audited third-party testing of our therapeutic in rats to obtain toxicology and pharmacokinetic data that is necessary for our clinical trial application toward a heart treatment,” McWhirter agreed. “Success will represent a significant milestone in our path to a clinical trial with our first product.
“We still have a long way to go, and we are just getting started! But NorthMiRs shows the potential to radically change the way we treat sepsis, said McWhirter. “We imagine NM-001 to be a single dose, IV-administered therapy that is administered within the 6-hour window of suspected sepsis.”
“By changing the standard of care, NorthMiRs will save lives, accelerate recovery, decrease long term effects and significantly improve the quality of life of patients with sepsis.”
Nearly everyone who died from COVID-19 died from sepsis. And one in five deaths overall will continue to occur due to sepsis, without the development of new therapies.
--Prof. Gilbert Walker