About us
Doto Medical LLC is a European medtech company aiming to improve the quality of life and survival rate of patients with chronic kidney disease. We engage the aptamer-driven therapeutic engine to bring hemodialysis to the next stage and develop it into a targeted therapy.
Meet Doto Medical
Doto Medical LLC is a European medtech company aiming to improve the quality of life and survival rate of patients with chronic kidney disease. We engage the aptamer-driven therapeutic engine to bring hemodialysis to the next stage and develop it into a targeted therapy.
Our company is a joint venture between two partner companies: Pure Biologics – a Polish biopharmaceutical company operating in the field of antibodies and aptamers for immune, rare and oncologic diseases; and Relitech B.V., a Dutch medical device developer and manufacturer. By creating Doto Medical, we can focus on research and product development tailored to any medtech company’s needs. At the same time, we strongly benefit from collaboration with our partners – in terms of previous business experience, know-how and IP (read more at Partners).
We are working on the development of a portfolio of ABD devices. ABD stands for Adjunctive Blood Detoxification, and represents a new approach to targeted dialysis. The product will be dedicated for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) to help them fight the most severe aspects of this deadly condition which are not properly addressed by the standard of care available. By adding the ABD device to the currently used hemodialysis equipment, it will be possible to increase the efficiency of removing toxins that play a key role in the progression of CKD and its complications. Depending on the adsorber used, it will be possible to achieve a number of positive therapeutic effects. Patients treated with dialysis augmented with an ABD device are expected to see a slow-down of disease progression and preservation of residual kidney function, which will result in symptom relief and a significant improvement in their quality of life. Moreover, patients will be less likely to suffer from cardiovascular events, which are one of the major risks caused by progressive CKD. Other complications should also occur less frequently. Mortality due to cardiovascular events, which currently account for the death of almost half of the patients with end-stage renal disease, will be significantly reduced.
8
Specialist
3
Projects
116 bln USD
Potential market size by 2030
Doto Medical LLC operates in a state-of-the-art laboratory launched in Poland in 2023. Wroclaw, the Polish “city of one hundred bridges”, has more than a thousand years of history and original architecture. Located on a route connecting European capitals: Berlin, Prague, and Warsaw, it attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. During its history, Wrocław has been a Polish, Czech and German city, but above all, it has been an academic town for several centuries. There is a such a scientific spirit and friendliness among the community that, you can’t help but fall in love with the city. Over a dozen universities educating tens of thousands of students and many international corporations create a unique, multicultural mixture. At least fourteen Nobel laureates are linked to the city, including Paul Ehrlich (1908, Medicine), Erwin Schrödinger (1933, Physics), Max Born (1954, Physics) and Olga Tokarczuk (2018, Literature).
Team
Our team combines expertise and know-how gathered over years of work towards the development of various medical devices and pharmaceutical products, including the team’s previous work on Pure Biologics’ aptamer projects – the company from which Doto Medical LLC originates. Together with our partners, we carry both research and business experience enabling us to successfully steer the company to its goal and reach the patients in need of better care.
A scientist and entrepreneur. Filip acquired 15+ years of research experience, both in Poland and the USA, and over 10 years of experience in building start-ups. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wroclaw in the Department of Protein Engineering. Next, he trained at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Health Science Center in Houston, USA, in the laboratory of Nobel Prize laureate Professor Ferid Murad, where he investigated signaling proteins related to cardiovascular diseases. He obtained his executive MBA diploma at the Polish-American School of Business. Filip has broad experience in biotechnology-related businesses and is involved in many R&D projects associated with the development of new drugs and medical devices.
Przemysław Jurek graduated in biotechnology from the University of Wrocław. He also completed postgraduate studies in Industrial Pharmacy at the Jagiellonian University and Executive MBA studies at the Polish-American School of Business. Przemysław participated in a research internship in the group of Professor Kurt. Gothelf at iNano at the University of Aarhus (Denmark). His main areas of expertise include aptamers, analysis of intermolecular interactions and early stages of drug development. He earned his Ph.D. based on research and technology that he developed for aptamer field at Pure Biologics. Przemysław originated the platform for selection of chemically modified aptamers – PureApta.
Pieter Spee graduated as medical biologist/biochemist and later specialized in immunology and oncology during his Ph.D. in Amsterdam. He worked at Novo Nordisk, where he went from a scientist dealing with cancer biology, angiogenesis, and immunology, through positions of principal investigator, project manager, up to Director of the NK cell biology department and then taking the position of Director and Scientific Director of the Department of Translational Immunology. At Novo Nordisk he took part in the development of Lirilumab and Monalizumab antibodies that are now in late-stage clinical development. He has served, among others, as CTO of FibroTX in Estonia (skin diagnostics), and CSO of Tikomed in Sweden (preclinical and clinical development of IBSOLVMIR for the improvement of pancreatic islet transplantation). He is a co-inventor of 7 patents in the field of antibodies and has authored almost 30 scientific publications.
Technology
Doto Medical is developing aptamers based on the PureAptaTM platform licensed from Pure Biologics
Doto Medical LLC is developing targeted dialysis – a medical device called ABD (for Adjunctive Blood Detoxification) to treat chronic kidney disease patients. The device will be developed by one of Doto’s founders – Relitech B.V. – using their patented technology for targeted kidney dialysis. ABD will be an add-on device, compatible and easy to connect to the equipment currently used in hemodialysis, during regular dialysis sessions. Designing the ABD device as an additional unit allows the minimization of interference with currently used dialysis procedures and devices constituting the standard of care, and thus lowering the barrier to entry to the market in the context of implementation into medical practice in hospitals and dialysis centers.
The “targeting” aspect of the therapy will be achieved using aptamers – a new class of biologic molecules that provide an unmatched advantage over current technologies. Aptamers are single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides that are chemically modified and which fold into a variety of shapes, making them extremely versatile in binding to targets with high selectivity and specificity. Due to their smaller size, greater stability, ease of modification, greater reproducibility, and equal or superior affinity over antibodies, aptamers can be used in a variety of applications, including medical devices and drugs.
Doto Medical is developing aptamers based on the PureAptaTM platform licensed from Pure Biologics S.A. It is a technological platform developed and patented by Pure Biologics for the selection of uniquely modified aptamers with therapeutic and diagnostic potential. It is based on the SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment) technology – an iterative method of obtaining aptamers that mimics evolution. A result of this process is that pools of aptamers are obtained which bind the selected molecular target better and better through subsequent selection rounds.
To increase the probability of selection success compared to the standard SELEX procedure, the PureAptaTM platform introduces uniquely modified nucleotides. The use of nucleotides with different properties (e.g. hydrophobicity, positive charge) in the selection campaign increases the diversity of the pool and, at the same time, the repertoire of possible interactions with the molecular target. Consequently, aptamers with high affinity and selectivity for the molecular target, as well as nucleolytic stability, are identified in comparison with conventional DNA libraries. The PureApta™ platform is covered by granted US patent 15/760,915, EPO patent EP3350195, and a pending patent family. The IP portfolio is licensed to Doto Medical LLC by Pure Biologics S.A.
Partners
Relitech B.V.
Relitech is an engineering company that designs, prototypes, develops and produces custom medical devices. Relitech has been operating on the medical devices market for almost 20 years, from the stage of conceptualization, defining requirements and device design, through the development of hardware, firmware and software, to medium-scale production of devices with full quality and regulatory certification for customers all over the world. The company’s portfolio includes point-of-care as well as hospital and therapeutic diagnostic products, including high-end advanced devices for clinical use, e.g. for intraperitoneal hyperthermia or anesthesia.
Pure Biologics S.A.
Pure Biologics S.A. is a Polish public biotechnology company (WSE:PUR) working in the field of oncological drugs and extracorporeal therapies in rare diseases, based on biological molecules – antibodies and aptamers. The Pure Biologics research team has experience in scientific research and application in the field of molecular biology, protein biochemistry, microbial biotechnology, immunology, cell research, animal research, and clinical trials of innovative drugs. Together with Relitech, these two partners decided to develop together at Doto Medical an idea for a medical device for the treatment of chronic kidney disease, based on Pure Biologics’ biological and medical expertise, and Relitech’s engineering expertise.
Clairfield Partners LLC
Clairfield Partners LLC (CP) is an international company providing corporate finance services, mainly in the field of mergers and acquisitions, for international corporations and financial investors. CP is an experienced broker, also in the field of life science and medical devices, including on the Polish market (the company acted as an intermediary in a significant public market transaction of Scope Fluidics S.A. regarding the sale of technology and a diagnostic device to the global leader Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., the value of the transaction totaled up to USD 170 million). The partner’s experience and reputation, makes it easier to establish contacts with potential recipients of technologies from the dialysis industry, and CP’s advice will increase the probability of successful commercialization.
