SAN FRANCISCO, May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- OsteoCorp, Inc., an emerging pharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs called “bone beta-blockers” to treat osteoporosis, is among 15 companies that have been chosen to present to investors and industry executives at TechCoire’s LifeScienceFest 2008. The two-day conference will be held June 3-4 at the Mondavi Center, University of California, Davis.
More than 250 of the life science industry’s top investors, innovators and executives will attend the conference. The event focuses on bringing together professionals from related disciplines to discuss growth strategies for life science companies and showcase leading innovations. Experts in attendance will feature backgrounds in medical devices, diagnostics, biotech, bio-informatics and healthcare information technology, among other specialties. On the first day of the conference, the selected companies will present at a Venture Summit hosted by TechCoire.
Bone Beta-Blockers to Treat Osteoporosis and other Bone Disorders
OsteoCorp, a San Francisco Bay Area company, was founded in 2006 based on the discovery that bone formation is controlled by a part of the brain that mediates the “fight-or-flight” response. Animal studies by OsteoCorp’s chief scientific advisor, Gerard Karsenty, M.D., Ph.D., have shown that bone-forming cells called osteoblasts possess special surface receptors that regulate bone formation and resorption via the neurotransmitter noradrenalin. Blocking noradrenalin receptors with a beta-blocker drug both stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone resorption to significantly reduce the risk of bone fractures. Dr. Karsenty is chairman of the department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Medical Center, New York.
“Although beta-blockers have been used for more than 30 years to treat hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, and migraine headaches, OsteoCorp is optimizing them as a new class of bone-building drug with broad therapeutic applications to prevent and treat osteoporosis and other diseases of bone,” said Charles S. Versaggi, Ph.D., president and CEO of OsteoCorp. “We are honored to have been chosen by TechCoire to present the exciting news of our progress to potential investors.”
“LifeScienceFest 2008 is literally a showcase of the latest technology being developed in life sciences, and the event is a must-attend for these innovative companies and the top investors in the field,” said TechCoire founder Gopan Madathil. “We are pleased to select OsteoCorp, Inc. from a list of more than 45 companies that submitted to present at this exciting conference.”
Under an exclusive license with the Baylor College of Medicine, OsteoCorp holds the worldwide patent rights to intellectual property concerning the regulation of bone formation and resorption through this newly discovered pathway. With the exception of the bone-building drug Forteo(R) (teriparatide), a parathyroid hormone-based drug developed and marketed by Eli Lilly and Company, the majority of today’s osteoporosis drugs act primarily to arrest bone loss. OsteoCorp’s bone beta-blockers would comprise the first of a new class of bone-forming drug designed to increase the density and quality of bone for all levels of disease severity.
About Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is the most prevalent disease in the Western hemisphere and a major public health problem worldwide. Half of all women over the age of 50 will have a fracture due to osteoporosis. Bone-building drugs to treat osteoporosis represent a major unmet medical need and a major market opportunity for OsteoCorp’s bone beta-blockers. Global sales of osteoporosis drugs have grown from $400 million in 1994 to more than $8 billion today. According to Business Insight, the market is projected to grow to $14 billion by 2011.
About LifeScienceFest 2008 and TechCoire
LifeScienceFest 2008 is a part of the Investorfest(R) series of events produced by TechCoire, the leading organization of technology entrepreneurs and executives from Northern California. For the past eight years, TechCoire has developed and hosted leading-edge programs and events focused on helping early stage entrepreneurs. For more information about LifeScienceFest and to register, visit http://www.lifesciencefest.com/. For more information about TechCoire, visit http://techcoire.com/.
CONTACT: Tim Brons, Vice President of Vida Communication, +1-415-675-7402,
tbrons@vidacommunication.com, for OsteoCorp, Inc.; or Charles Versaggi,
Ph.D., President, CEO, of OsteoCorp, Inc., +1-415-806-6039,
chaz@osteocorp.com
Web site: http://www.lifesciencefest.com/
http://techcoire.com/
