10.5.23-Showcase-Tokyo-Numb_Corp

ANDREW RADEN: Konnichiwa. Andrew Raden [SPEAKING JAPANESE]. Good afternoon. I'm Andrew Raden, co-founder and CEO of Numb Corp., a biotech company developing therapeutics for pain.

10 years ago, I earned my MBA at MIT Sloan, where I studied and practiced commercializing scientific innovations. When I finished at MIT, I launched an AI-driven drug discovery company that was backed by leading American, Japanese, and Korean investors. We were part of the MIT Startup Exchange and we signed biopharma partnerships with companies for companies based here in Asia, including two here in Japan.

Recently, I partnered with two neuroscience professors to launch Numb Corp. We're a biotechnology company specializing in protein engineering for neuroscience applications. We are developing a novel nonopioid drug for subacute regional pain management.

This is important for two reasons. One, inadequate pain management solutions, and two, the opioid crisis in the United States. According to the US NIH, National Institute of Health, there's 50 million US adults that live with inadequate pain management. And about 10 million Americans misused opioids in the past year.

Patients dealing with pain have three options. They can be treated in the hospital, prescribed opioids, or suffer from debilitating pain. The question that we face here is, how can we manage pain safely?

When using opioids to treat pain, there are several risks. Opioids act systemically, not regionally, causing unwanted effects. They lead to addiction and dependence. And adequate pain control requires patient adherence. We're working to develop a nonopioid drug that addresses these issues.

We are engineering a first-in-class, selective Intracellular Neurotransmission Blocker, or INTB for short. Our drug will block the pain signal from the sensory neuron to the central nervous system so that the patient will not feel regional pain. Our drug will be delivered locally, not systemically, unlike opioids, will not be addictive or lead to a dependence. It will be injected by a doctor and does not rely on the patient adherence that opioids do.

Big pharma tried to do this previously, but ran into challenges because of the data and the tools did not yet exist. And at the time, opioids seemed like a sufficient solution.

Our specialty is protein engineering for neuroscience applications. We're leveraging discoveries in neural cell types, advances in protein engineering, and nanomolar affinity binders to fill the gap in pain management medicines and fight the opioid crisis.

My founding team includes me, Andrew Raden, an experienced biotech entrepreneur, Lief Fenno, a neuroscience professor focused on protein engineering, whose patents have been licensed to big pharma, and is also an addiction psychiatrist. And Tim Machado, a neuroscience professor who founded a company that was acquired by a top 10 company in the world.

Our team has discovered a way to specifically target sensory neurons only. And using that, to deliver a well-characterized neurotransmission blocker that acts from inside the cell.

We are engineering a novel protein that combines this well-characterized neurotransmission blocking protein with a peptide that is selective for sensory neurons. And this results in a first-in-class, selective INTB. The particularly interesting properties of this neurotransmission blocking protein can only be shared under confidentiality. So if this is intriguing, I encourage you to engage us further.

We are currently designing our molecule in silico, and we will be commencing in vitro proof-of-concept studies shortly. Our TPP is a biologic protein that's targeting subacute regional pain management. It will be a single injection, a single local injection that lasts on the order of one to two weeks, which is a special property of that neurotransmission blocking protein. And it's intended to have no addiction or dependence side effects.

In my previous company, I signed four partnerships in Asia, including two here in Japan. I personally have made more than a dozen trips to Japan in the last several years. And since founding Numb Corp., We've engaged with several Japanese biopharma companies. And we really value the process-driven approach to partnership.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here today because it's at the intersection of established industrial leaders and innovative startups where we can really move and translate discoveries into impact. My team, as we're taking our next step in our journey, is connecting with biopharma companies who are interested in pain management, particularly in post-surgical, neuropathic, and cancer-related pain.

We're looking to benefit from pharmaceutical companies with deep scientific expertise and scientific resources, particularly in vitro sensory neuron assays, unique in vivo pain models, and accelerator programs that enable us to engage further with your company. Together, let's create a better way to manage pain safely. Thank you. [SPEAKING JAPANESE]

[APPLAUSE]