Ropirio Therapeutics is developing the world’s first drug that directly targets and reactivates lymph vessels, and a platform for discovering more.
The Problem
The human lymphatic system is vast and critical to our health, including the proper functioning of our immune system. Over the last decade, research into the lymph system has revealed its dysfunction in a wide variety of diseases, but development of drugs to directly target the lymph system has lagged, in part because there are few reliable preclinical models of lymph vessels on which to test drug candidates.
Our Solution
A team of Wyss researchers led by Core Faculty member Chris Chen, M.D., Ph.D. came together to solve this problem by constructing a human lymphatic vessel -on-a-chip that accurately models human lymphatics in a microfluidic in vitro system. They then used this system to identify novel compounds that bind to various targets on the lymph vessels, enabling the development of first-in-class lymph drugs.
Product Journey
Once they had successfully built their lymph-vessel-on-a-chip, Chen’s team discovered that the addition of inflammatory cytokines significantly reduced lymphatic drainage, mimicking human response to inflammation. Building on this finding, the team identified a druggable pathway that can activate lymphatics by opening junctions between lymphatic endothelial cells and restoring normal drainage, even in the setting of inflammation. This biology is specific to lymphatic tissues, allowing for selective activation of drainage without causing side effects in other parts of the body.
Following this breakthrough discovery, a team at the Wyss Institute comprising industry veterans Ken Carlson, Ph.D., Joel Moore, Ph.D., and Sylvie Bernier, Ph.D coalesced to translate this biological result into a tangible human therapeutic. The group rapidly assembled a complete drug discovery platform that ultimately produced potent, orally bioavailable compounds that demonstrated efficacy in the gold-standard animal model for secondary lymphedema.
Impact
Ropirio was founded by Chen and Moore along with fellow Wyss Faculty member Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D. to commercialize this breakthrough discovery and bring lymphatic treatments to patients. Moore was named to the Wyss’ Lumineers Class of 2023. Ropirio’s portfolio includes several small molecule drugs that it aims to start testing in clinical trials in 2026.