-- Company will Develop Next Generation Medicines for Diabetes and other Diseases --
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ConjuChem, LLC, a biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery of novel therapeutics, announced today the relaunch of the company under new management, headed by healthcare visionary and business leader Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D.
Formerly ConjuChem Biotechnologies Inc. of Montreal, Canada, the privately held ConjuChem, LLC (www.conjuchem.com) will be based in Los Angeles. It will focus on developing medicines using its proprietary platforms called Drug Affinity Complex (DAC™) and Preformed Conjugate-Drug Affinity Complex (PC-DAC™). These platforms combine the potency of peptides with the long-lasting profile of albumin to produce novel therapeutic candidates and are covered by an extensive patent portfolio targeting multiple pharmaceutical areas.
ConjuChem’s product development will be led by a team that has a proven track record of successfully developing and commercializing Abraxane®, itself a novel chemotherapeutic agent incorporating albumin. Abraxane is approved and marketed in numerous countries around the world for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, and is in clinical trial for pancreatic and various other cancers.
ConjuChem has several research programs underway and currently one product in clinical development focused on the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, a disease which now afflicts approximately 10% of the U.S. population and hundreds of millions of others around the world. Additional product candidates include a long-lasting insulin derivative and a fusion inhibitor compound for the treatment of HIV.
Dr. Soon-Shiong began his medical research career working in diabetes. He performed the first pancreas transplant on the West Coast in the 1980’s and then pioneered islet cell transplantation for diabetics. His work with stem cells at that time led him to work with albumin and from there to the invention of albumin-bound Abraxane for cancer.
“ConjuChem presents a great opportunity to bring the knowledge we have acquired in using albumin in oncology drugs, to the development of new drugs for both diabetes and HIV,” said Soon-Shiong. “It is a very exciting company, which has made much progress already and we are about to see much more. Watch this space.”
Entities controlled by Soon-Shiong purchased the assets of ConjuChem Biotechnologies, Inc. in 2010.
About ConjuChem
ConjuChem creates novel, next-generation medicines using unique, long-acting therapeutic peptides. Underlying all ConjuChem compounds are bioconjugation platforms called Drug Affinity Complex (DAC™) and Preformed Conjugate-Drug Affinity Complex (PC-DAC™). When applied to a given peptide, DAC™ and PC-DAC™ can create new drugs with similar therapeutic activities but with significantly longer durations of activity and improved safety profiles. For more information, please visit www.conjuchem.com
CONTACT:
ConjuChem
Jen Hodson, 310-405-7539
KEYWORDS: United States North America California
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Pharmaceutical Diabetes
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