Maxwell Biosciences Announces the CLAROMER® Brand Biotech Therapeutics Platform as It Advances Toward Clinical Trials

Maxwell Biosciences today announced that it has branded its patented biostable peptide analogs, which comprise small, synthetic oligomers (“peptoids”) which preclinical studies have shown function as biostable mimics of the powerful cathelicidin peptide—the human body’s primary line of innate immune defense against rapidly evolving viruses.

Maxwell’s CLAROMER® brand anti-infectives platform has successfully demonstrated excellent preclinical potency in a recent peer-reviewed publication that shows CLAROMER activity against both the HSV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. This paper in the Swiss journal Pharmaceuticals (MDPI) shows CryoEM images of treated viruses, obtained at the University of Texas, revealing that CLAROMER platform product candidates directly disrupt viral envelopes; this renders viral particles non-infective. CLAROMERs are stable in vivo and are straightforward to manufacture by solid-phase synthesis techniques and to purify by HPLC. In ongoing, earlier-stage studies not yet published, CLAROMERs also have demonstrated activity against other important viruses that impact human health, including other Coronaviruses, MERS, SARS, Hepatitis B & C, Influenza A, and Rhinovirus.

The newly published Pharmaceuticals article—entitled “Potent Antiviral Activity against HSV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 by Antimicrobial Peptoids”—was co-authored by Maxwell Biosciences Scientific Advisory Board Member Gill Diamond, Ph.D. (University of Louisville, Department of Oral Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) and 10 other collaborating academic researchers.

“CLAROMER is an apt brand name because it expresses both the clear value that our novel anti-infectives platform offers, by acting on and directly neutralizing the viruses targeted in pre-clinical trials,” said Maxwell Biosciences CEO and co-founder, Joshua McClure, “and also begins a new era in peptide mimicry with biostable peptoids—an exciting new scientific approach powering the novel antivirals platform technology that we are announcing today.”

For this naming project, Maxwell retained Brian Auderer of Austin’s Dash Three Dots branding studio and branding guru Kat Jones, who famously created the Livestrong brand.

“In retaining Kat and Brian, Maxwell achieves our goal of designating a unique biotechnology platform brand that resonates with how CLAROMER® brand synthetic peptoid oligomers function as analogs of natural antiviral cathelicidin peptides, addressing the threat of rapidly evolving viruses by combining desirable pharmacological aspects of peptides with biostable synthetic molecules,” said Maxwell Biosciences co-founder, Dr. Annelise Barron.