PureTech Launches Celea Therapeutics to Advance New Treatments for Respiratory Diseases
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
PureTech Health has announced the creation of Celea Therapeutics, a new business focused on developing treatments for serious respiratory conditions.
IPF is a progressive disease marked by irreversible scarring of lung tissue, causing steady loss of lung capacity. Median survival after diagnosis is typically two to five years, and there is no known cure.
Deupirfenidone is a deuterated form of pirfenidone, one of only two approved treatments for IPF. Current therapies offer limited benefit due to tolerability issues, leading to low treatment uptake despite the significant market potential, with combined global peak sales of over $5 billion. The Phase 2b ELEVATE IPF trial suggested that deupirfenidone could stabilise lung function for at least 26 weeks, with early data indicating possible benefits lasting up to a year.
Celea’s lead candidate, deupirfenidone (LYT-100), is ready to enter Phase 3 clinical trials. The drug is being developed primarily for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a rare and fatal lung disease, and has potential applications in other fibrotic and inflammatory lung conditions.
PureTech completed a Phase 2b trial of deupirfenidone in December 2024, which showed promising results in slowing lung function decline while maintaining good safety and tolerability.
The company plans to meet with the US Food and Drug Administration by the end of the third quarter of 2025 to discuss the Phase 3 trial design. Third-party funding is being sought to support further development and commercialisation.
Source: puretechhealth.com
