Ongar, UK 7th December 2015
For more information please see the Cypralis press release below:
Cypralis Limited announces collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation in the field of neurodegenerative diseases
Cypralis, a life sciences company focussed on the discovery of therapeutics for the modulation of peptidyl-prolyl isomerases (PPIases), has entered into a collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The collaboration, facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, aims to develop new cyclophilin inhibitors for neurodegenerative diseases. The terms were not disclosed.
Cyclophilin inhibitors on the market or in development are non-selective between the four commonly screened cyclophilin isoforms A, B, C and D. Cypralis and Janssen are undertaking a joint research program to generate a new class of CNS penetrant, selective inhibitors of cyclophilin D applicable to targeting degenerative diseases including CNS degeneration. The medicinal chemistry and PPIase screening will be sub-contracted to Selcia Limited.
Simon Kerr, CEO of Cypralis commented: ‘We are delighted to be collaborating with Janssen in order to develop a novel class of cyclophilin D inhibitors. We are hopeful that this effort will pave the way towards a new approach to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.’
About Cypralis
Cypralis was spun out from Selcia Limited (Ongar, Essex) in 2013 to exploit its extensive expertise and know-how in targeting peptidyl-prolyl isomerases (known as PPIases), a large family of druggable protein targets involved in many acute and chronic diseases. Cypralis is dedicated to the discovery and development of highly innovative therapeutics through inhibition of PPIases and expects to build upon its existing intellectual property estate through its own R&D activities and also through risk-sharing collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. For further information visit www.cypralis.com
About Alzheimer’s disease
Approximately 850,000 people in the UK and 44 million worldwide are living with dementia, a condition caused by a group of neurodegenerative diseases of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common, where people gradually lose memory and the ability to perform daily tasks or care for themselves. The cost to the global economies is huge and is estimated to represent £24 Billion a year to the UK alone, a significant proportion of this being borne by family and friends providing informal care. Because people are living longer the numbers of people with dementia is increasing dramatically. Medicines available for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are ‘symptomatic’ and only provide relief for a limited period of time. There remains a desperate need for ‘disease modifying’ treatments, able to slow down the underlying progression of the disease.
About Selcia
Selcia is a privately held contract research organisation providing integrated small molecule drug discovery with specialist expertise in the medicinal chemistry of macrocycles, including cyclic peptides, their simplification and optimisation for drug use together with a unique peptidyl prolyl isomerase (PPIase) inhibitor screening platform. Selcia is also a global leader in radiochemistry providing 14C GMP radiolabelled API for clinical trials and 14C custom radiolabelling for drug metabolism, dermal penetration and environmental fate studies.
Media enquiries:
Andy Matthews
O2PR
andy.matthews@o2pr.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7967 153753
All other enquiries:
Dave Roberts
Business Development Director, Selcia
contact@selcia.com
Tel: +44 (0)1277 36700