Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, announced today that it obtained exclusive, worldwide rights from Robarts Research Institute (London, Ontario, Canada) for NamPRT (also known as Visfatin), an important genetic driver of cellular stress resistance and longevity in mammals.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, announced today that it obtained exclusive, worldwide rights from Robarts Research Institute (London, Ontario, Canada) for NamPRT (also known as Visfatin), an important genetic driver of cellular stress resistance and longevity in mammals.
The cellular longevity and stress resistance pathway in lower organisms is naturally triggered by the genetic switch PNC1. In mammals this process is evolutionarily conserved, and researchers have demonstrated that NamPRT serves the same role in mammalian cells. When cells are impacted by calories restriction, this genetic trigger activates members of the sirtuin family of enzymes involved in cell survival.
In research relating to atherosclerosis and cellular aging, cardiologist Dr. Geoffrey Pickering of Robarts showed that the introduction of the NamPRT gene into aging human vascular smooth muscle cells delayed their deterioration and substantially lengthened cell lifespan. Importantly, this NamPRT response is associated with increased activity of SIRT1, a member of the sirtuin family of enzymes that the body uses to regulate glucose and insulin, fat metabolism, cell survival, and the aging process.
“If we can keep blood vessels functioning well by halting or slowing their aging,” said Dr. Pickering, “we should be able to improve the quality and length of life of individuals suffering from aging-related diseases.”
“In-licensing the exclusive rights to these patents is part of our overall strategy to build the broadest platform of technology and intellectual property for the development of sirtuin therapeutics for the treatment of diseases of aging," said Karl Normington, PhD, Senior Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. “This intellectual property expands our existing portfolio around the NAD pathway, including nicotinamide and nicotinamide riboside, as well as other genes known to regulate intracellular NAD levels.”
"We believe our internal efforts, combined with access to technology from premier research institutions such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robarts Research Institute, will continue to keep Sirtris at the forefront of the sirtuin therapeutics field," said Christoph Westphal, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals.
About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing proprietary, orally available, small molecule drugs with the potential to treat diseases associated with aging, including metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. Our drug candidates are designed to mimic certain beneficial health effects of calorie restriction, without requiring a change in eating habits, by activation of sirtuins, a recently discovered class of enzymes that the Company believes control the aging process. The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About Robarts Research Institute
Robarts is a medical research institute located in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario. Robarts scientists are physicists and physicians, biologists and biomedical engineers &ndash all working to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent a range of debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, the potential therapeutic effects of SIRT1 activators; the progress and results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of SIRT1 activators; the strength of the Company's intellectual property estate; the Company’s position in the sirtuin therapeutics field; and the potential of sirtuin modulators to receive regulatory approval. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the lack of results that would provide a basis for predicting whether any of the Company's product candidates will be safe or effective, or receive regulatory approval, the possibility that results of pre-clinical studies are not necessarily predictive of clinical trial results, the Company's potential inability to initiate and complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for its product candidates, the fact that none of the Company's product candidates has received regulatory approvals, the potential inability of the Company to gain market acceptance of the Company's product candidates, and those other risks factors that can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those Sirtris Pharmaceuticals contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.
