VASTox plc announces positive preclinical results in its lead Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy programme
VASTox, a chemical genomics company, announced promising results from its lead preclinical development programme for Duchenne muscular dystrophy ("DMD"). DMD is a devastating disease that affects young males for which there is currently no effective treatment.
For the first time, VASTox has demonstrated in vivo up-regulation of the protein utrophin by a number of small molecules from their proprietary chemical library. This is a significant development as utrophin has been demonstrated to replace the function of dystrophin, which is missing in DMD patients and helps keep muscle cells intact. Up-regulation of utrophin is widely viewed by the scientific community as a highly promising avenue for the development of an effective treatment for DMD.
The gene for utrophin was discovered by Prof. Kay Davies FRS, CBE who is a co-founder of VASTox. Prof. Kay Davies is an acknowledged leading expert in this field and has studied extensively the utrophin replacement approach to the treatment of DMD.
VASTox intends to optimise and develop the most promising lead candidates from this on-going study, and conduct a more extensive screen for additional compounds in 2006 with the aim of selecting a clinical candidate in 2007. VASTox owns the rights to the relevant patents and licences relating to this programme.
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