Cambridge, UK, 9th November 2017 / Sciad NewswireCypralis, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, will present in-vitro and in-vivo data obtained using novel cyclophilin inhibitor CC-1233 in models of acute pancreatitis at the American Pancreatic Association annual meeting in San Diego (Nov. 8-11th, 2017).  CC-1233 is a potent inhibitor of cyclophilin D that maintains mitochondrial integrity to reduce necrotic death of pancreatic acinar cells, and is the lead programme from Cypralis’ cyclophilin inhibitor platform.  Studies performed in collaboration with Professor Robert Sutton (University of Liverpool) showed that the compound can protect murine and human pancreatic acinar cells from toxic insults associated with acute pancreatitis, and is highly effective in protecting the pancreas in mouse models of the disease.

Simon Kerr (CEO, Cypralis) commented: “CC-1233 is the first pre-clinical compound to emerge from our cyclophilin inhibitor platform and we are planning to advance the compound into IND/CTA enabling studies early in 2018. We believe that clinical success for CC-1233 in acute pancreatitis would not only offer a first disease-modifying treatment for this disease, but also validate cyclophilin D inhibition as an approach to both acute and chronic degenerative diseases.”

Professor Robert Sutton (Lead, Liverpool Pancreatitis Research Group, University of Liverpool) commented: “Acute pancreatitis remains a very serious disease with no adequate treatment options.  Our research using cellular and animal models of acute pancreatitis identified cyclophilin D inhibition as a new approach to block the underlying mechanism of disease progression. Studies at Liverpool have demonstrated that CC-1233 has the potential to significantly improve the outcome for patients with acute pancreatitis.”

Ends

For further information, contact:

Cypralis
Simon Kerr, CEO
E: simon.kerr@cypralis.com
T: +44 (0)1223 496 000

Sciad Communications, Media Relations
Deborah Cockerill, Managing Partner
E: Deborah@sciad.com
T: +44 (0)20 7470 8801

Notes for Editors

About Acute Pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis is an extremely painful disease that is most often associated with gallstones, excessive alcohol intake and obesity and is currently treated in hospital with supportive therapy only. There are over 450,000 hospital admissions in total from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the USA every year, due to cases of acute pancreatitis. A significant number of patients with acute pancreatitis progress to life-threatening complications due to the pancreatic inflammation affecting other body organs. This inflammation is the result of cell death in the pancreas, which new experimental treatments have been shown to prevent in animal studies, human pancreatic cells and tissue. Cypralis has discovered new compounds that act on pancreatic cells to stop the disease from progressing. These compounds are being developed by Cypralis in collaboration with the University of Liverpool as the first disease-modifying treatments for acute pancreatitis.  

About Cypralis
Cypralis is a company focusing on discovering and developing novel medicines for acute and chronic degenerative diseases. It was spun out from Selcia Ltd (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. Cypralis is dedicated to the development of 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 http://www.cypralis.com

About the University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading research institutions with 81% of research rated world leading or internationally excellent. Liverpool is ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide and is a member of the Russell Group. For more information visit http://www.liv.ac.uk

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