UPPSALA, Sweden, June 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bioventia: fat is not only a much-discussed food substance. Fat can also function as a signal substance in the body and activate a special receptor in the cells of important organs like the pancreatic islets, heart and liver. This opens opportunities for new ways of explaining the genesis of diabetes, a disease that is strongly associated with obesity.
"The discovery of the Free Fatty Acid receptors (FFAR) can provide a new explanation for the connection between fat and diabetes," said Professor Christer Owman. He hopes the research breakthrough will help to clarify the dual role of fats in the body, being both essential to life and potentially damaging.
Professor Christer Owman, CSO and scientific founder of HEPTAHELIX AB, is now initiating discussions with partners that can develop potential drugs together with the young start-up company. Earlier this year Owman and his team at Lund University were the first to publish results on this new role for fat in the prestigious international journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. The research team has applied for a patent on the function of these receptors in order to be able to use them to develop drugs for diabetes and obesity.
Bioventia Life Science Consultants have supported HEPTAHELIX in the strategic business planning, leading to the current partnering process.
"We are pleased to work together with HEPTAHELIX in the further business management. Biotech start-ups need to look for international partners early, to maintain a successful development of their business," said Carina Schmidt, Senior Partner in Bioventia. "HEPTAHELIX has a sound combination of this collaborative business model and cutting-edge science. Being the largest gathering of biotechnology leaders in world, the upcoming BIO2003 in Washington June 22-25, forms an excellent platform for our alliance discussions."
HEPTAHELIX has a vision to offer partnership programs to pharmaceutical companies, with the aim to discover and validate new G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) as potential targets for new drugs. These GPCRs form one of the most important groups of targets for pharmaceuticals. In the core business areas; therapeutics for cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory disease, HEPTAHELIX plans to take candidate drugs, through pre-clinical stages with partners. The partners are pharmaceutical companies involved in clinical development, marketing and sales of drugs for the target conditions. HEPTAHELIX has earlier entered into agreements with biotech partners BioInvent International AB, Biolipox AB and Mixture Sciences, Inc.
About HEPTAHELIX
HEPTAHELIX AB is a drug discovery company dedicated to research concerning G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs represent an important part of drug discovery efforts in pharmaceutical companies, with potential to serve as targets for new drugs to treat many complex and serious diseases, including inflammatory conditions, metabolic, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. Up to 40 % of the top 100 pharmaceutical products are claimed to act on GPCRs. GPCRs have a common basic structure forming a serpentine that traverses and anchors in the cell membrane seven times - hence the name seven-transmembrane (7TM) or heptahelix receptors. HEPTAHELIX was started in 1998 as a spin-off from Wallenberg Neurocentrum, Division of Molecular Neurobiology at Lund University in Sweden. GS Development AB in Malmo, Sweden, has provided seed capital of close to EUR 1.5 million. HEPTAHELIX is currently looking for second round investors. More information at www.heptahelix.com
About Bioventia
Bioventia is a management consulting company, acting as a link between innovations, financing and competent management. Bioventia builds on broad international experience from research, development, marketing and business development, within pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotech industry. The consultants from Bioventia become true working partners for the needs of life science companies, in areas like business and market analysis, development of strategies, business plans, and customer alliances, as well as for specialist competences in quality aspects, product and clinical development. Clients include Amersham Biosciences, AstraZeneca, Gyros Microlabs, BioInvent International, Karolinska Innovation, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, Swedish Trade Council and VINNOVA. Bioventia has a network of international resources in countries including USA, Germany, France, Israel and Finland. Meet Bioventia in the booth at BIO 2003, located at the Swedish Pavilion, number 835. More information at www.bioventia.com
About BIO2003
BIO2003 is the BioIndustry Organisation's annual convention, held June 22-25 in Washington, DC. The event has grown tenfold since BIO's inception in 1993, and with 47 percent just in the last two years. This year, for the tenth anniversary convention, between 15,000 and 20,000 biotechnology executives, politicians, scientists, and reporters are expect to come to meet. The convention has not only grown larger, it's become truly global in scope. At BIO 2002 in Toronto, 52 countries were represented, and for the first time ever, U.S. registrants were a minority. More information at www.bio.org