Cytopia Limited And Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC Hit Cardiovascular Program Milestone
RENSSELAER, N.Y. and MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Australian biotech Cytopia and New York based Myomatrix Therapeutics today announced that they had achieved an important milestone in their collaboration to develop novel treatments for cardiovascular disorders including heart failure.
Highly specific and potent kinase inhibitors developed by Cytopia have been shown to block signaling pathways in cardiac myocytes that are associated with heart failure.
In earlier work at the State University of New York (SUNY) it was shown that relatively non-specific kinase inhibitors were effective in preventing artificially induced cardiac hypertrophy in a mouse model.
The new data confirms that in the in vitro cardiac myocyte model, Cytopia's specific molecules are more effective than the molecules tested in previous work at SUNY. Also, their much higher specificity further validates that this kinase signalling pathway could be an effective therapeutic target for several cardiovascular disorders.
Myomatrix now intends to test Cytopia's improved kinase inhibitors in the same animal model used at SUNY.
"Success in this animal model could pave the way for preclinical development of the molecules for a number of applications such as heart failure and pulmonary hypertension," said Dr Shreefal Mehta, CEO of Myomatrix.
Dr Kevin Healey, Cytopia's CEO said "we are very impressed with the in vitro data and are keen to extend the close collaboration with Myomatrix."
Myomatrix and Cytopia collectively have worldwide exclusive licenses to certain kinases and the use of inhibitors of these kinases to treat cardiovascular diseases. In addition, Cytopia is building an extensive portfolio of patent applications covering several families of kinase inhibitors.
Heart Failure
The mechanism of heart failure is not completely known but the disease is thought to occur through the chronic activation of compensatory mechanisms that are triggered in response to pressure or volume overload in the cardiovascular system.
The mechanism may involve multiple signaling pathways that utilise kinases. Inhibition of these kinases may prevent changes in gene expression in the cardiac myocyte that lead to heart failure.
Heart failure is the major cardiovascular cause of hospitalization in the developed world. The pharmaceutical market for heart failure related drugs is at least $7 billion in the USA alone for 2000, and is growing at 15% (in sales figures) for the last few years.
Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC
Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC is a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Albany, New York, with core expertise in developing therapies for cardiovascular diseases.
For further information visit our website http://www.myomatrix.com/ or contact: Dr Shreefal Mehta CEO Tel: 1-518-331-8078 Fax: 1-518-525-2799 Email: smehta@myomatrix.com Cytopia Pty Ltd
Cytopia is a Melbourne-based drug discovery company focused on the treatment of immune diseases and cancer by inhibiting cell signalling.
For further information visit our website http://www.cytopia.com.au/ or contact: Dr Kevin Healey (CEO) Dr Andrew Wilks (CSO) Tel: +61 7 3871 3455 Tel: +61 3 9522 6911 Email: kevin.healey@cytopia.com.au Email: andrew.wilks@cytopia.com.au
Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC; Cytopia Pty LtdCONTACT: Dr Shreefal Mehta, CEO, +1-518-331-8078, or Fax: 1-518-525-2799, or smehta@myomatrix.com, of Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC; or Dr KevinHealey, CEO, +61-7-3871-3455, or kevin.healey@cytopia.com.au, or Dr AndrewWilks, CSO, +61-3-9522-6911, or andrew.wilks@cytopia.com.au, both of CytopiaPty Ltd