RICHMOND, Calif., April 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioAge Labs, Inc., a biotechnology company developing medicines to treat aging and age-related diseases, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. [Head Office: Toshima-ku, Tokyo, President: Shigeru Uehara] (“Taisho”) to develop and commercialize Taisho's clinical-stage Hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitor, BGE-117 (named TS-143 by Taisho), to ameliorate multiple diseases of aging.
“This is a significant milestone for BioAge that enables us to initiate our first clinical trial of BGE-117 to evaluate the impact of HIF activation on several measures of aging in elderly patients. Our proprietary human data platform shows that HIF signaling is a key longevity pathway that drives regeneration, healing and resilience,” said Kristen Fortney, PhD, BioAge’s Chief Executive Officer. “BioAge’s AI-driven platform is built on longitudinal human aging samples with multi-omics phenotyping and has revealed multiple pathways and mechanisms where we can intervene to positively impact human healthspan and lifespan. BGE-117 is the first of several promising therapies that we plan to bring forward to treat diseases of aging.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BioAge will make an upfront payment to Taisho, who is entitled to receive development and commercial milestone payments plus royalties based on annual net sales. BioAge will be responsible for all development, manufacturing and commercialization of BGE-117 worldwide while Taisho has an option right for co-commercialization in Japan and several countries in Southeast Asia.
The Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway is linked to healthspan and lifespan in BioAge’s proprietary human aging data. Pathway activation levels are significantly associated with longevity and multiple functional measures. The Company believes that BGE-117 can potentially treat multiple diseases of aging through the activation of HIF-1 target genes that are involved in numerous biological processes including tissue regeneration, erythropoiesis, glycolysis, glucose uptake, vascular remodeling and angiogenesis. Inhibition of HIF-PH increases HIF pathway activation and has the potential to increase resilience, repair and regeneration across multiple body systems.
BGE-117 is a potent, orally administered small molecule inhibitor of HIF-PH demonstrating early clinical activity and safety in a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers and a Phase 1 study in non-dialysis and hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease.1 HIF-PH inhibitors are an emerging class of compounds that have been demonstrated to be safe and well-tolerated in over 20,000 subjects in clinical trials.
About the BioAge Platform
The BioAge platform identifies key drug targets that impact aging. The Company’s proprietary human aging cohorts have blood samples collected up to 45 years ago, with participant -omics data that is tied to extensive medical follow-up records including detailed future healthspan, lifespan and disease outcomes. BioAge has built a systems biology and AI platform that leverages these rich datasets to identify the molecular drivers of age-related pathology. BioAge’s pipeline of development candidates targeting these key pathways has the potential to address the significant unmet medical needs of an aging population.
About BioAge
BioAge is a biotechnology company developing proprietary drugs to treat aging and aging-related diseases. Since its founding in 2015, the Company has raised $37 million in venture capital funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and others to back its AI-driven approach to map the molecular pathways that impact human longevity. BioAge’s mission is to develop a pipeline of therapeutic assets that increase healthspan and lifespan.
Reference
1 Am J Nephrol. 2018;48(3):157-164
Source: BioAge Labs, Inc.
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