CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and CALABASAS HILLS, Calif., April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The ALS Association and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the leading sirtuin therapeutics company, today announced that The ALS Association has awarded research funding for a novel compound developed by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals with potential for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). By activating sirtuins, a recently-discovered class of enzymes involved in the body’s natural defense mechanisms, the compound has the potential to protect against damage to nerve fibers and inflammation, processes thought to play a role in ALS.
“The funding of this research enables us to pursue a new drug discovery approach based on sirtuin science and to explore potential new medicines for ALS, a disease for which there is a significant need for new treatment options for patients,” said Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D., Science Director and Vice President, The ALS Association. “We are very pleased to collaborate with Sirtris, the leader in developing sirtuin therapeutics, on this research in a breakthrough new area of science.”
The ALS Association research grant awarded for the novel Sirtris compound will be led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to test the therapeutic potential of the Sirtris compound, which acts on a metabolic pathway involving the sirtuin family of histone deacetylases (HDACs). A member of this family called SIRT1 appears to allow cells to resist stress and to survive. The pre-clinical testing will be performed in mutant mice with altered copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1), a commonly used model for ALS mimicking many aspects of the human disease.
“We are excited to collaborate with The ALS Association and MGH to apply our novel drug discovery using sirtuins with leading experts in the ALS field,” said Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Sirtris. “We are committed to applying our novel science for sirtuin therapeutics to address important unmet medical needs for neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS.”
Sirtuins have been shown to have properties that promote the body’s natural defense against disease. As drug targets for neurological diseases, like ALS, sirtuins have been shown to regulate proteins that modulate inflammation and the ability of axons to regenerate after damage. These axons are the long fibers that must reach from motor neurons to their target muscles up to a meter away.
As both inflammation and axonal damage are implicated in the disease process of ALS, the proprietary Sirtris compound may intervene to simultaneously affect multiple aspects of the disease process in ALS.
About The ALS Association
The ALS Association is a national not-for-profit health organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS. The ALS Association supports research, patient and community services, public education, and advocacy to provide help and hope to those facing ALS. In the area of research, The ALS Association’s new initiative, Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS) provides a planning framework for drug discovery and clinical trials. This initiative will accelerate the rate of translational research to enter prioritized, promising treatment candidates into clinical testing in ALS patients. In partnership with academia and biotech, studies such as these will enable rapid testing of novel compounds that may be of benefit in ALS.
About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics that modulate sirtuins, a recently discovered family of enzymes that promotes the body’s natural defense against disease. Also known as class III histone deacetylases (HDACs), sirtuins are attractive drug targets for diseases of aging, including metabolic and neurological diseases. Sirtris has built the dominant sirtuin intellectual property estate and know-how with a comprehensive suite of reagents, proprietary assays, transgenic animal models, and biomarkers.
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals was founded by Rich Aldrich, Richard Pops, Paul Schimmel, David Sinclair and Christoph Westphal, and has raised a total of $82 million since inception. Its investors include Polaris Venture Partners, TVM Capital, Cardinal Partners, Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Bessemer Venture Partners, Novartis Bioventures Fund, Cargill Ventures, Genzyme Corporation, QVT Fund LP, Cycad Group, Hunt Ventures, Red Abbey, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. The company’s headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit http://www.sirtrispharma.com.
Contact: For The ALS Association: Jeff Snyder Vice President, Communications 818-587-2220 jeff@alsa-national.org For Sirtris Pharmaceuticals: Kathryn Morris KMorris PR 845-635-9828
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
CONTACT: Jeff Snyder, Vice President, Communications of The ALSAssociation, +1-818-587-2220, jeff@alsa-national.org; or Kathryn Morris ofKMorris PR for Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, +1-845-635-9828
Web site: http://www.sirtrispharma.com//
