Epigenesis Pharmaceuticals had been a biopharmaceutical company developing respiratory medicines for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Privately held, the firm combined gene identification and validation technology based upon antisense oligonucleotides with advanced proprietary animal models of human disease to identify new therapeutics with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of respiratory disease. The firm was developing EPI-12323, a once daily, small molecule, inhaled non-glucocorticoid steroid that targets the inflammatory and airway obstruction cascade in the irritated lung. The antisense molecules used for target validation could be directly employed as therapeutics because of the unique properties of the lung. The company also leveraged antisense information to enable a complementary small molecule therapeutics program.
