Start-Up Previews (12/2009)
Executive Summary
A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, "Bringing New Blood to the Anemia Market," features profiles of Akebia, Neumedicines and Palkion. Plus these Start-Ups Across Health Care: Aterovax, Pico-Tesla Magnetic Therapies, SpineAlign Medical, Theraclion, Virdante Pharmaceuticals and Zacharon Pharmaceuticals.
A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of START-UP: Windhover's Review of Emerging Medical Ventures This month's profile group:
Bringing New Blood to the Anemia Market
Akebia Therapeutics Inc. (Also see "Akebia Therapeutics Inc." - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) believes that the shorter circulating half-life of its oral daily HIF-regulating compound, currently in Phase I trials, will keep it from over-stimulating EPO production, which is related to the cardiovascular and other safety issues faced by current injectable ESAs. Beyond its efforts with HIF and anemia, Akebia is also pursuing preclinical research on inhibitors of the human protein tyrosine phosphatase beta for vascular leakage.
Neumedicines Inc. (Also see "Neumedicines Inc." - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) is developing IL-12-based therapeutics to restore hematopoiesis. Its lead compound HemaMax, recombinant human IL-12, is designed to regenerate the hematopoeietic system following exposure to radiation. A second program, HemaMax-II, will likely focus initially on treating chemotherapy-induced leucopenia, neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia.
CrystalGenomics Inc. and ProQuest Investments formed Palkion Inc. (Also see "Palkion Inc." - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) to identify and develop orally available anemia drugs that modulate the HIF prolyl hydroxylase enzyme system. Palkion is finishing up preclinical toxicology on its lead candidate for anemia associated with chronic kidney disease.
Start-Ups Across Health Care
Current treatments for atherosclerosis use markers and therapeutic targets that are consequences of the disease. Aterovax SA (Also see "Aterovax SA" - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) is attempting a more direct route. By basing its research and pipeline on sPLA2, a family of secreted phospholipases that are mediators in the inflammatory process involved in atherosclerosis, it hopes to create products that are either predictive of cardiovascular disease rather than simply diagnostic, or that can stop the development of unstable atherosclerotic plaques.
[Pico-Tesla Magnetic Therapies LLC]'s (Also see "Pico-Tesla Magnetic Therapies LLC" - Medtech Insight, 1 Dec, 2009.) noninvasive neuromodulation platform uses low levels of electromagnetic field to improve signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The field strengths used by the company's Resonator device are in orders of magnitude below those utilized in MRI scanners or transcranial magnetic stimulators and thus should present no risk to patients.
Patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures now have another alternative to vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty. The SpineAlign system from [SpineAlign Medical Inc.] (Also see "SpineAlign Medical Inc." - Medtech Insight, 1 Dec, 2009.) uses a combination of cement and a permanent implant to elevate the vertebral endplates in parallel. In addition, the expandable metal device is composed of nitinol threaded at the end, so that a pedicle screw can be attached and locked into the system for a sturdy construct.
Paris-based Theraclion SAS (Also see "Theraclion SAS" - Medtech Insight, 1 Dec, 2009.) has developed a non-surgical approach to treating hyperparathyroidism. The company's TH-One technology employs an externally applied converging beam of high-intensity focused ultrasound to create a rapid temperature rise in the extremely small parathyroid glands. Each pulse of energy produces a small lesion of coagulation, leading to destruction of the parathyroids.
Virdante Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Also see "Virdante Pharmaceuticals Inc." - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) aims to improve the anti-inflammatory properties of antibodies with proprietary "sialic switch" technology developed by scientific founder Jeffrey Ravetch, MD, PhD, at Rockefeller University. If the process can be scaled up, Virdante thinks it will be possible to create products that are safer and more effective at treating inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.
Previous attempts at developing glycan-targeting drugs have been hampered by slow and expensive carbohydrate chemistry as well as the lack of effective screening methods. Zacharon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Also see "Zacharon Pharmaceuticals Inc." - Scrip, 1 Dec, 2009.) has created novel high-throughput screening technology designed to overcome these limitations and it is moving forward with clinical development of its own small-molecule drugs. Its most advanced candidate targets patients with mucopolysaccharidosis, a lysosomal storage disease with numerous subclasses.