Draft:MoonLake Immunotherapeutics

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (‘MoonLake’) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, focused on developing medicines for inflammatory diseases. The Company was founded in 2021 when Sonelokimab was in-licensed from Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany. The initial investors were BVF Partners LP, Merck KGaA, Florian Schönharting, Simon Sturge, Arnout Ploos van Amstel, Dr. Jorge Santos da Silva, and Dr. Kristian Reich.

Sonelokimab is an investigational Nanobody designed to treat inflammatory diseases by inhibiting the naturally occurring IL-17A/A, IL-17A/F, and IL-17F/F dimers that drive inflammation. In addition, Sonelokimab is designed to target inflammation sites directly and, due to its smaller size compared to typical monoclonal antibodies, potentially offers better tissue penetration.

In May 2021, positive results of a Phase IIb trial of Sonelokimab for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet.

MoonLake is progressing the clinical development of Sonelokimab for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including hidradenitis suppurativa and psoriatic arthritis.

In April 2022, MoonLake combined with Helix Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition vehicle, becoming a Nasdaq-listed company with the ticker symbol MLTX.