MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company leveraging single-domain antibody (Nanobody®) technology to develop medicines for immunologic diseases, including inflammatory skin and joint diseases.
Nanobodies® are proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, with the benefits of conventional antibodies but at 1/10th the size. MoonLake has licensed Merck KGaA’s phase 3-ready drug sonelokimab (M1095) (originally discovered by Ablynx), an IL-17A/IL-17F inhibitor with an albumin binding site, which has the potential to facilitate deep tissue penetration in the skin and joints.
MoonLake was founded in 2021 and plans to accelerate the development of Sonelokimab in multiple inflammatory diseases in dermatology and rheumatology driven by IL-17A and IL-17F. This group of IL-17A/F Inflammatory Diseases includes psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and hidradenitis suppurativa. MoonLake says it plans to initiate multiple Phase 2 trials soon.
The company recently published Phase 2b data in The Lancet showing Sonelokimab totally clears skin in almost 6 out of 10 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
MoonLake aims to develop Sonelokimab in multiple indications through to commercialization, potentially in partnership with established biopharma companies.