Cambridge, UK, 18th September 2017 / Sciad Newswire / Cypralis, a life sciences company focused on the discovery of therapeutics for the modulation of peptidyl-prolyl isomerases (PPIases), has been awarded new funding by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, under its BioMedical Catalyst competition.
Cypralis has previously been awarded two other grants from Innovate UK that have been used to identify and develop new cyclophilin inhibitors for targeting degenerative diseases such as pancreatitis. The new funding is to identify novel inhibitors of pancreatic fibrosis with potential applications in several other fibrotic diseases. During the new study, Cypralis and its collaborators at the University of Liverpool are seeking to discover new dual-activity inhibitors of cell death and fibrosis for the treatment of Chronic Pancreatitis. This activity profile would provide the first potential disease-modifying treatment for Chronic Pancreatitis. The feasibility study will run until July 2018.
Simon Kerr, CEO of Cypralis, commented, ‘It is gratifying to have been awarded a third Innovate UK grant and to be collaborating closely again with Professor Sutton’s team at the University of Liverpool, which is one of Europe’s leading centres in Pancreatology. Chronic Pancreatitis is an important unmet need in its own right, but compounds with the profile we are seeking may also have activity in other fibrotic diseases such as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). We look forward to generating some exciting results during the next 12 months or so.’
Professor Robert Sutton, Director of the NIHR Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit, commented, ‘Chronic Pancreatitis is a severely debilitating condition without any available drug treatment to slow or reverse the disease. We are pleased to be collaborating again with Cypralis to identify new compounds that could represent a major advance in treatment for Chronic Pancreatitis, and perhaps also for other inflammatory and degenerative conditions in the future.’
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For further information, contact:
Cypralis
Simon Kerr, CEO
E: simon.kerr@cypralis.com
T: +44 (0)1277 367 020
Media Relations, Sciad Communications
Deborah Cockerill / Emma Pickup
E: Cypralis@sciad.com
T: 020 7470 8801
Notes to Editors
About Chronic Pancreatitis
Chronic Pancreatitis is a severely painful inflammation of the pancreas that frequently requires admission to hospital and prevents normal life. Currently there is no drug treatment that affects the course of Chronic Pancreatitis and patients are typically treated only to alleviate their pain. As the disease progresses the pancreas undergoes degradation, along with fibrosis, which can lead to malnutrition, diabetes and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. With a prevalence rate of 40-50/100,000, Chronic Pancreatitis affects over 120,000 subjects in the US, with more than 56,000 hospitalisations per year.
About Cypralis
Cypralis is a company focusing on discovering and developing novel medicines for acute and chronic degenerative diseases. It was spun out from Selcia Ltd (Ongar, Essex) in 2013 to exploit its extensive expertise and know-how in targeting peptidyl-prolyl isomerases (known as PPIases), a large family of druggable protein targets that include the cyclophilin family. Cypralis is dedicated to the development of innovative non-immunosuppressive cyclophilin inhibitors and expects to build upon its existing intellectual property estate through its own R&D activities and also through risk-sharing collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. For further information visit http://www.cypralis.com
About the University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading research institutions with 81% of research rated world leading or internationally excellent. Liverpool is ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide and is a member of the Russell Group. For more information visit http://www.liv.ac.uk
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit http://www.innovateuk.gov.uk
