Seaport Therapeutics Receives Up to USD 15m ARPA-H Award to Advance Lymphatic-Targeted Oral Prodrug
Boston-based Seaport Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company focused on neuropsychiatric medicines, has received a non-dilutive award of up to USD 15 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to advance GlyphCele, an oral therapeutic candidate designed to restore gut lymphatic function. The Seaport Therapeutics ARPA-H collaboration targets metabolic disease and pancreatic cancer through the company's proprietary Glyph platform.
The award funds a joint effort between Seaport and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. No private investors participated in the funding, which the company characterized as non-dilutive. Seaport said the funds will support the advancement of GlyphCele, also referred to as Cele-Pro, through preclinical and clinical proof-of-concept studies across both metabolic disease and pancreatic cancer indications.
GlyphCele is an investigational Glyph platform prodrug of the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib, engineered to be absorbed through the intestinal lymphatic system rather than the portal blood circulation. The rationale centers on evidence that gut lymphatic vessels involved in transporting dietary fats and immune signals can lose structural integrity in metabolic disease, leaking fluid into abdominal fat and driving inflammation, weight gain, and insulin resistance. In pancreatic cancer, tumor-associated lymphatics may facilitate the spread of inflammatory and tumor-promoting signals. Seaport said GlyphCele is designed to deliver therapy directly into the gut lymphatic network, addressing disease biology at its source rather than managing downstream symptoms. Preclinical data supporting the approach were published in Nature Metabolism, demonstrating that lymphatic-targeted COX-2 inhibition can correct lymphatic damage, improve metabolic markers, and reverse insulin resistance.
The award falls under ARPA-H's Groundbreaking Lymphatic Interventions and Drug Exploration (GLIDE) program, which aims to develop therapeutic interventions for primary lymphatic disease and chronic conditions complicated by lymphatic dysfunction. There are currently no approved oral medicines that target the lymphatic system, and no non-surgical method exists to normalize gastrointestinal lymphatic dysfunction, the company said.
Seaport's core pipeline remains focused on neuropsychiatric medicines, all built on the Glyph platform. The platform converts known active molecules into prodrugs that are absorbed through the intestinal lymphatic system, bypassing hepatic first-pass metabolism. This approach is intended to improve oral bioavailability and reduce liver-related side effects such as enzyme elevations or hepatotoxicity. While the company has not disclosed specific candidate names or trial phases for its neuropsychiatric programs in this announcement, it describes itself as clinical-stage with a pipeline of candidates across areas of unmet need.