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Trauma on their minds, treatment in their thoughts
January 2012
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Amarantus
BioSciences Inc. and Alachua,
Fla.-based Banyan Biomarkers
Inc. have announced a collaboration agreement to
evaluate the potential of mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor
(MANF) as a
disease-modifying agent for the treatment of traumatic brain injury
(TBI).
To this deal, Amarantus
brings its skills as a biotechnology
company actually developing MANF, a first-in-class disease-modifying
therapeutic protein, while Banyan brings its
talents as a leader in developing in-vitro diagnostic products to detect TBI.
MANF is a
protein that corrects protein misfolding, which
the companies note is one of the major causes of apoptosis, or cell death.
According to Amarantus, this
property "provides a compelling rationale for the
research and development of MANF-based products as therapeutics for human
disease."
Although this Amarantus-Banyan effort focuses on TBI, the
lead MANF product development effort is
centered on a therapy for Parkinson's
disease, currently funded by a research grant from the Michael J. Fox
Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Amarantus also owns an inventory of 88
cell lines referred
to as PhenoGuard Cell Lines—MANF being the first
therapeutic protein discovered from a PhenoGuard line—and Amarantus anticipates
that additional
therapeutic proteins useful for therapeutic approaches in the
central nervous system will be identified from the company's inventory of
PhenoGuard
lines.
"TBI, often referred to as concussions, are the result of
devastating acute blows to the head
as are typically seen in contact sports or
on the battlefield in military settings," said Gerald Commissiong, president
and CEO of Amarantus, in the
news release about the deal. "Given my football
background, I am hopeful that MANF will prove effective in treating these
injuries and believe that
this area of research could become an important part
of Amarantus' overall strategy going forward."
Commissiong adds that the focus on concussions and traumatic
brain injury "is now at an all-time high with high-profile athletes such as
Sidney
Crosby in the NHL and NFL players suffering from brain injuries on a
weekly basis."
For
Amarantus, targeting TBI is a way of using the company's
expertise in central nervous system disorders to broaden the potential
applications of MANF.
It also supports the company's strategy to pursue areas
where its therapeutics can be paired with diagnostics to expand the utility and
adoption of
its product candidates, according to Commissiong.
"MANF appears to have a profile of activity in
cerebral
ischemia that is consistent with a potential therapeutic benefit in traumatic
brain injury," said Dr. Andreas Jeromin, director of business
development and
assay core services at Banyan, in the news release about the deal. "We are
hopeful to be able to pair potential therapeutic treatments
such as MANF
alongside our groundbreaking diagnostic test going forward."
Looking to the deal
and looking forward, Jeromin tells ddn that Banyan has a developed portfolio of proprietary
biomarkers in TBI, adding, "These biomarkers can be
used for patient
stratification, outcome prediction and therapeutic monitoring. Banyan's goal is
to develop point-of-care test for acute traumatic
brain injury, which can also
be used as companion diagnostics if a drug treatment were to be developed for
TBI."
Agreeing with Commissiong that traumatic forms of brain
injury represent an important potential market segment, he adds, "TBI is an
unmet medical need with growing importance and an efficacious drug treatment is
desperately needed."
Amarantus was
introduced to Banyan Biomarkers by the U.S.
Department of Defense,
which thought MANF could have an impact with regard to
biomarkers on which Banyan is working, Commissiong says. He says work on the
project would begin
this month.
"We will begin with in-vitro work in Banyan's cell-based assay and progress into animal models
based on positive
results," he says. "We are likely to have initial data in Q1
2012 and move into additional models thereafter." Code: E011216 Back |
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