LifePharms, Inc., Sloan-Kettering Institute, RTI International to Collaborate on Biodefense Research.
Groton, CT, New York, NY, and Research Triangle Park, NC.: April 7, 2005 –
– As part of an effort to strengthen our nation’s bio-defenses against an outbreak of smallpox, LifePharms, Inc., the Sloan-Kettering Institute of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The Natural Products Laboratory of RTI International have received a 5-year, $5 million research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The organizations will combine their expertise in drug discovery, natural product chemistry and antiviral research to discover small-molecule therapeutics for poxvirus infections. The project will use enzymes and proteins derived from the closely related but harmless vaccinia virus as a surrogate for the variola virus. LifePharms’ natural product extract collection will be screened at both the Sloan-Kettering Institute and at LifePharms for activity against these targets leading to drugs which the collaboration intends to develop.
LifePharms, Inc. is a biotechnology company headquartered at the University of Connecticut @ Avery Point in Groton. E. Edward Mena, President and Chief Scientific Officer of LifePharms, Inc. is the principle investigator of this industry-university collaborative project, which also involves Stewart Shuman at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Nicholas Oberlies at RTI International.
The grant is part of the biodefense initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the possible re-emergence of smallpox by the release of the variola virus is one of the most feared bio-terrorist scenarios. Therefore, there is a strong need to develop potent antiviral therapeutics that would easily be administered to exposed individuals and would curtail or eliminate the development and spread of the disease
LifePharms, Inc. is a graduate of the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region (seCTer) Incubator program. LifePharms’ research focuses on discovering novel, natural product-derived compounds from its natural produce collection. This collection consists of over 16,000 fungal samples collected from sites throughout the United States. Estimates indicate that 40% of all drugs have been discovered from natural sources and an even greater percent are compounds derived from natural products. The company recently announced research collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Products Research Utilization Unit at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. LifePharms, Inc. has several other research collaborations with government laboratories, universities and research institutions throughout the country in the therapeutic areas of cancer, infectious diseases and human antifungal research.
The Sloan-Kettering Institute is the research arm of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the oldest and largest institution devoted to the prevention, patient care, research and education in cancer. Dr. Stewart Shuman, a Professor in the Molecular Biology Program is a widely recognized poxvirus researcher. His work on the vaccinia virus has focused on several poxvirus-specific enzymes, which are potential targets for drugs.
The Natural Products laboratory at RTI International has a long and distinguished history of natural products research, which includes the discovery of Taxol, and Camptothecin, two of the most universally used anticancer agents on the market.
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