In Philadelphia-area life sciences news this week, a Wynnewood research institute gets a federal grant to study diabetes complications, a Berwyn biopharmaceutical company makes progress on an experimental pain medicine, a Horsham medical device company inks an overseas distribution deal, and more.
Here's the roundup:
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
The Wynnewood research institute, which is part of Main Line Health, was awarded a three-year, $1.67 million federal grant to study the cause of — and develop treatments candidates for — potentially life-threatening complications from diabetes.
People with diabetes are at increased risk of kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, and other serious conditions.
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) researchers will use the grant funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease to study unexplored pathways that may cause the complications. Their work will focus on a glucose-derived molecule, called 3-deoxyglucosone (3DG), and its connection to diabetes.
“While there are numerous drugs to lower glucose in the bloodstream, they do not directly target 3DG as a bad actor in diabetes,” said George Prendergast, CEO of LIMR. “Recent research has shown that intensive glucose control does little to reduce complications for most diabetic patients. Innovative drugs that safely lower 3DG may hold the key to preventing diabetes complications."
Prendergast said LIMR scientists will look to identify new drug candidates that can block production of the disease-causing molecule, and investigate the source of 3DG production.
“The grant supports establishing how 3DG is produced within cells and the effect of this production on diabetic complications,” said Melvin Reichman, a senior investigator at LIMR and principal investigator for the project. “It also supports learning how certain food components may increase 3DG production.”
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, an estimated one-third of them have chronic kidney disease.
Virpax Pharmaceuticals
The Berwyn pharmaceutical company reported positive preclinical study results for Epoladerm, its new drug candidate for managing pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Epoladerm is being developed as analgesic supplied in a pre-filled device. It is designed to be administered to the knee as a topical spray film.
Virpax CEO Anthony P. Mack said the successful preclinical outcomes will strengthen the company's planned investigational new drug application for Epoladerm — which will require approval to allow Virpax (NASDAQ: VRPX) to begin human testing.
Strata Skin Sciences
The Horsham medical technology company entered into an agreement with JuvenIL covering the distribution of Strata's Xtrac excimer lasers, used to treat skin conditions, in Israel.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
JuvenIL is the dermatology and aesthetics division of Trimaco, a distributor of medical devices based in Rehovot, Israel.
Robert Moccia, CEO of Strata (NASDAQ: SSKN), said the Israeli market — where there are an estimated 300,000 psoriasis and 160,000 vitiligo patients — presents a strong growth opportunity for the company.
Quick hits
The Food and Drug Administration gave Lannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: LVCI) of Trevose the green light to proceed with late-stage clinical testing of its biosimilar insulin glargine product, which the company is co-developing with the HEC Group of companies. Lannett said it anticipates the pivotal clinical trial to begin in March and be completed by early 2023. … Wayne-based XyloCor Therapeutics, which is developing gene therapies for cardiovascular disease, expanded its senior management team with two new hires: Dr. Elizabeth Tarka as chief medical officer and A. Brian Davis as chief financial officer. Tarka, a cardiologist with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, was previously chief medical officer of Idera in Exton. Davis, who has more than 15 years of experience as a CFO for publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies, was most recently CFO at Verrica Pharmaceuticals in West Chester.
