Odyssey therapeutics is dedicated to identifying first-in-class targets, whose modulation will transform the standard of care to benefit patients with autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Odyssey has identified novel targets based on their function in signaling pathways that regulate downstream inflammatory responses from both innate and adaptive immune cells. By targeting upstream pathways, we aim to block inflammation at its root. Genetic evidence linking a target to disease helps to focus research on disease indications within which patients will be most likely to benefit, reducing the time it takes for a new medicine to become available and enhancing clinical success rates. Multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in the genes for targets in our pipeline, some are already suspected to predispose patients to immunological disease. Odyssey will conduct research using UKB’s extensive genetics database to (1) validate target and disease relationships for targets in Odyssey’s drug discovery pipeline and (2) identify potential additional diseases that may be effectively treated by targeting a specific gene product, thus expanding the size of the patient population that may benefit. Utilization of UK Biobank’s blood-based and biomarker data may also provide insight that allows disease indications to be segmented into smaller subgroups increasing the precision of patient selection for clinical trials and ultimately defining patient subgroups with the highest likelihood of maximally benefiting from a new drug.
