-------------
Dear friends,
I had hoped to post within a couple of days a Part II to the message I
sent last week. Sorry to take so long. The reason for the delay,
however, is pretty good news. Jen Farmer and I have been spending a lot
of our time this week, as we have for some time now, communicating with
and about drug companies. Some of these constant communications are
with FARA's existing pharmaceutical partners (a baker's dozen or so).
Others are with companies that have come to FARA recently proposing that
we collaborate with them on compounds and therapeutic approaches they
believe show promise of being beneficial for FA patients. Others,
still, are with companies we are asking to consider partnering with some
of the leading FA scientists to develop the compounds these
investigators have "discovered" and with which they need additional
expertise and resources to move through pre-clinical and clinical
research.
You know a good bit about that first category of companies -- those with
whom FARA has been working for some time on drugs about which we are all
very hopeful. More about some of them later. Let me tell you just a
little about that second category of companies -- those that have been
approaching FARA seeking collaboration on compounds and therapeutic
approaches they believe could be beneficial in FA.
I'll give just a few recent examples. Last year, a small company,
Intellect Neurosciences, contacted FARA about a mitochondrial compound
they were excited about because of its strong potential for benefit to
FA patients. FARA met with the company several times to explore that
potential and, in September, Intellect Neurosciences announced it had
licensed its compound, OX-1, to ViroPharma Inc. of Exton, PA. Soon
thereafter, Jen Farmer, Kyle Bryant and I went to ViroPharma and gave a
full-blown presentation on FA and FARA to the entire company. The
company's passion and commitment were already much in evidence and they
have made it clear that they want to advance OX-1 promptly in FA and,
beginning immediately, to become a strong ally and partner to FARA and
the FA community. They have already begun to attend FARA scientific
meetings, like the Philadelphia Symposium, communicate with FARA
scientific advisors, and to devote staff and resources to getting
involved and being helpful in FARA events and activities nation-wide.
Several other companies, over just the last month or two, have
approached FARA about compounds they have in their portfolios and have
demonstrated to some extent in their own experiments some potential
benefit in FA. We continue the discussions with these companies so as
to review the potential for benefit and decide if collaboration on
further development makes sense. Obviously, not all of these proposals
will bear fruit but I think you will share our excitement over the fact
that FARA and the FA community have reached the tipping point at which,
finally, drug companies are actually seeking us out trying to convince
us that we should collaborate with them. For years earlier, FARA was
always the one that would approach the drug companies trying to convince
them to collaborate.
Finally, some of the companies that have been approaching FARA do not
have compounds of interest in their own portfolios. Rather, these
companies ask FARA to make recommendations of FA scientists whose work
holds potential for the company in terms of licensing a discovery for
clinical development. That, too, represents a real tipping point for
the FA community as we have been far more accustomed to knocking on
pharmaceutical doors looking for possible partners for FA scientists.
Currently, we are seeking near-term pharmaceutical partners for three FA
scientists including Dr. Mark Payne and his TAT-Frataxin program. Many
of you have seen his excellent publication at
http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/11/23/hmg.ddr554.abstract?ct=ct. As this article makes clear, Dr. Payne's TAT-Frataxin has demonstrated the ability in severely affected FA mice to increase growth and mean lifespan by 53 percent, and to increase mean heart rate and cardiac output. Dr. Payne and I plan to be in Houston together on January 26 to meet with a world-class cardiologist at the Texas Heart Institute to seek his assistance in elevating FA research in the global cardiology community. While in Houston, Dr. Payne and I will also be discussing next steps in securing the best possible pharmaceutical partner for his TAT-Frataxin program.
I'll stop here for now so as to keep this message at a readable
length. Will return as soon as possible with the next installment.
Warm regards,
Ron
Ronald J. Bartek
President
Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA)
P. O. Box 1537
Springfield, VA 22151
Tel (703) 426-1576
FARA website: http://www.CureFA.org
Email: fara@CureFA.org
Please register in the FARA Patient Registry at
http://www.curefa.org/registry/ and for e-news at
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101190303489
.
No comments:
Post a Comment