Technology
Focus on brain diseases // The global brain diseases market is projected to grow from $65B today to over $105B by 2015. Conditions encompass diseases not optimally treated such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer, psychiatric disorders, pain, and many others. The increased incidence of neurodegenerative diseases associated with an aging population is one driver of the 11% CAGR of this drug class. To capitalize on this market potential, the pharmaceutical industry faces a major challenge: how to get drugs across the natural guardian of the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
The Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) // The blood-brain barrier’s key role is to regulate access of substances to the brain, thereby blocking foreign substances while allowing others like glucose to penetrate. Being recognized as foreign substances, 95% of drugs are prevented from reaching the brain, making brain diseases very difficult to treat. There is a consensus among the scientific community that the ultimate option to penetrate the BBB is the physiological approach.
This physiological approach is based on the fact that the BBB is not just a barrier but an active interface with transport activities. The brain needs some essential substances for its metabolism and survival, e.g. glucose, insulin, growth hormone, etc. When needed, those substances are recognized by specific receptors and are actively transported into the brain.
AngioChem’s Approach // This is precisely the approach used by our platform technology. By aligning the amino acid sequences of proteins that efficiently cross the BBB, we identified the consensus sequence responsible for binding to the LRP receptor, which naturally transports certain proteins to the brain. We designed a family of peptides, called Angiopep, based on this common sequence which retains the ability to bind to the LRP receptor and crosses the BBB physiologically. Furthermore, we have created several methods to chemically attach molecules to Angiopep.Based on that technology, AngioChem has created a promising product pipeline for internal development and potential collaborations.
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