Mitobridge obtains Salk Institute intellectual property

BIOPHARMACEUTICAL company Mitobridge Inc. has recently entered into an agreement with the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences to access intellectual property and technology related to Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Delta (PPARδ). 

 

Mitobridge, which pioneers the discovery and development of products that improve mitochondrial function, is advancing a selective PPAR modulator (SPPARM) program based on recent developments in the understanding of the pharmacology of this drug target and the potential to use a PPARδ modulator as an exercise mimetic. Latest results from the company’s work show a PPARδ modulator may be working through mitochondria and could treat mitochondrial myopathies and other musculoskeletal disorders.

 

The exclusive worldwide license grants key patents and reagents developed in the laboratory of Mitobridge co-founder Professor Ronald Evans for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases in both humans and animals. 

 

Dr. Evans, who received the Lasker Award for his work in nuclear hormone receptors, is the March of Dimes Chair in Developmental and Molecular Biology. He is a professor and the director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk Institute. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

 

Mike Patane, PhD, senior vice president of Drug Discovery at Mitobridge, noted the value of the opportunity to capitalize on the innovative PPARδ technology developed over the past several years in the Evans lab. 

 

“The results from preclinical studies suggest that our molecules might be safer yet similarly effective to earlier generation PPARδ compounds. We hope to translate the original discoveries from the Evans lab into meaningful therapeutics for disorders that will benefit from improving mitochondrial function,” Mr. Patane added.

 

Mitobridge was established in October 2013 under the name Mitokyne to capitalize on the emerging biological understanding of how mitochondria function affects health via bioenergetics, signaling, dynamics and biosynthesis. It has recently changed its name to Mitobridge and filed a trademark application for that name. It has also closed a second tranche of financing led by MPM Capital, Longwood Fund, and Astellas Pharma Inc.