PolyTherics Ltd - News on 20 October 2006

2008
PolyTherics to Present Therapeutic Protein Optimisation Platform at BIO-Europe Meeting
PolyTherics and Alligator Bioscience announces strategic collaboration for optimisation of next generation biopharmaceuticals
Secretary of State John Denham visits PolyTherics
Novel Approach to Drug Insolubility strengthens PolyTherics patent estate
PolyTherics expands Collaboration with Biocompatibles
PolyTherics-Celtic Pharma Collaboration Agreement to explore technologies for improved drug performance
New Consortium announces Significant Grant Funding of Anaemia product programme

2007
Innovative Drug Production Project secures funding from Technology Strategy Board
Imperial Innovations Annual Report - PolyTherics Limited
PolyTherics highlighted by UK Trade & Investment
Antony Godwin from PolyTherics ties the knot
PolyTherics and BioVectra dcl sign Manufacturing and Representation Deal
Innovative Biopharmaceutical Company, PolyTherics, raises over £2 million
TheraPEG ™ technology ideal for drugs for developing countries

2006
TheraPEG ™ technology wins Research Breakthrough Award
NHS at Hammersmith Hospital applauds new PEGylated IFN
PolyTherics nominated Regional Finalist in UK Biotechnology Entrepreneur Awards 2006
PolyTherics PEGylation technology published in Nature
Debbie Allen and Geeta Gupta joins PolyTherics

2005
PolyTherics and Shantha sign biotech deal
BangaloreBio begins
British High Commissioner addresses Indian biotech companies

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"Bridging gaps in Global Health"

Researchers motivated by the global burden of treatable disese have found a new treatment for hepatitis C that will be affordable for patients in developing countries. It will also save the NHS millions of pounds.

Along the way, the researchers have challenged a long-held tenet of protein chemistry, investigated the ins and outs of pharmaceutical patents and worked at government level here and in India. Their findings were published in the June issue of Nature Chemical Biology and have been applauded as a 'shining example' of how university-based scientists can have a real impact on global health.

The project was born of the shared vision of Professor Sunil Shaunak from the Hammersmith campus of Imperial College London and Professor Steve Brocchini from the London School of Pharmacy. They were concerned about the high cost of drugs for treating HIV and hepatitis and decided to develop alternatives that would be affordable in developing parts of the world, not just in rich western nations.

They pooled their enthusiasm, creativity and expertise - Professor Haunak is a specialist in infectious diseases and Professor Brocchini is a chemist - and tackled interferon-alpha, an immunomodulatory protein that is used in combination with the antiviral agent ribavirin to treat hepatitis C. This virus has infected 200 million people worldwide and causes a huge burden of chronic liver disease and premature death. Unmodified interferon is rapidly metabolised and excreted. It has to be injected three times a week to have any effect, and hepatitis C recurs when treatment is stopped.

The pharmaceutical giants have overcome this problem by attachiing large sugar polymers (polyethylene glycol, PEG) to the protein, making it larger and less susceptible to breakdown. The resulting product, known as pegylated interferon, has proved to be far more effective than the unmodified form. It can be taken once a week and leads to cure in 50% of patients. However, a single course of treatment costs the NHS £7,000 making it too costly for the 170 million sufferers living in the developing world.

As the pharmaceutical firms have patented the technique of attaching PEG to the outer surface of any biological molecule, the two professors started searching for a new and cost-effective way of attaching PEG to the protein. And they turned their attention to the disulphide bond that exists in all proteins.

Professor Shaunak says: "Disulphide bonds are the belts and braces required to maintain a protein's shape. We inserted a 3-carbon bridge across one of these bonds in interferon, and used the new bridge to attach PEG. This approach has many advantages over the existing biotechnology, and Imperial College has now patented it."

The biotechnology broke a fundamental rule of protein chemistry, as Professor Shaunak recalls: "We were told it was unthinkable to interfere with disulphide bonds in proteins because they are essential to the 3-dimensional structure and biological activity of a protein. Fortunately we hadn't read the protein textbooks carefully - and our pegylated interferon works because the protein retains its structure and activity.

After discussions with the Wellcome Trust, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the enw pegylated biotechnology has been made available to an Indian drug company which already makes and sells an affordable interferon.

Clinical trials start next year in India and Professor Shaunak is confident of their success.

Plaudits for the team have come from far and wide, not least from Sir Michael Arthur, British High Commissioner to India. He said: "This approach to making cost-effective medicines is a shining example of how exciting innovations in our best universities can be rapidly turned into new and useful global healthcare products."

Professor Shaunak believes an altruistic approach to drug disovery and new medicines could transform the treatment of many diseases. "People in academic medicine have a choice. They can use their ideas and creativity to make large sums of money for small numbers of people, or they can look outwards to out global community and make affordable treatments for common diseases. I hope that young doctors in training will see just how exciting this kind of research can be."

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Article published in Hammersmith Research, Issue 38
20 November 2006

This article has been reproduced from the media. It does not necesssarily represent the views or position of PolyTherics.

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