New Treatment for Age-Related Blindness

Summary


	Quick description:		The technology is a unique class of selective CD36 modulators that are novel drug candidates for treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Besides being the first class of specific CD36 modulator, the technology introduces a new approach for treating AMD by aiming at a new biological target.
	Posted by:		Université de Montréal
	Published:		23 November 2007
	Patent:		Pending
	Primary sector:		Health and Life Sciences
	Seeking / Offering:		Collaboration or Partnership, Non-Exclusive Licensing, Exclusive Licensing
	Areas of interest:		biotechnology, drug, drug therapy, life sciences, medical sciences, pharmaceuticals
	Website:		visit website

Description

The technology is resulting from a series of discoveries made by a group of scientist led by Dr. Huy Ong from the Université de Montréal.

They discovered that growth hormone related peptides modulate the activity of CD36 beside their natural target.
Using a growth hormone related peptide prototype as template, a new class of azapeptides featuring binding specificity towards CD36 were created.
Results have shown that these compounds inhibit angiogenesis, which contribute to AMD progression.

Competitive Advantages

Unique class of compounds

Complementary to anti-VEGF therapies

Proof-of-Principle completed in vivo

Value Proposition:
This invention proposes a new class of compounds that has the potential to offer a novel solution to threat AMD. Also, these compounds could be formulated as eye drops , a significant advantage over current treatment. Thus, these azapeptides offer the possibility of being first in this category of drugs for treating AMD, which is likely to be reflected into important market shares.