FASgen receives $1.4 million SBIR Phase II NIH grant for obesity research

Oct 1 2009

FASgen, Inc. is pleased to announce that it was awarded a new $1.4 million SBIR Phase II NIH grant for continued research for obesity. FASgen has for some time had extensive research into the effects of inhibition of the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway on the regulation of appetite and weight loss. The Company has developed numerous families of compounds that act on the well identified targets in the pathway, including fatty acid synthase (FAS), carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1) and mitochondrial glyceraol-3aclytransferase (GPAT). The current research effort will optimize the Company’s compounds for use in future clinical trials. The research is in part conducted in cooperation with labs at Johns Hopkins University under a research agreement between the Company and Johns Hopkins.

“This grant supplements the Company’s extensive product development efforts in the metabolic disease field. The weight loss effects seen to date in preclinical in vivo experiments have applications in various indications, including obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, including specifically non-alcoholic steatohepatitis,” said Susan Medghalchi, Ph.D., FASgen’s principal investigator under the grant. FASgen’s Chairman, Eric F. Stoer, also noted that the metabolic program runs in parallel with the Company’s successful efforts to develop a different set of FAS inhibitor compounds for use in the treatment of cancer. The Company’s oncology program was partnered with J&J last year and that collaboration continues to demonstrate the validity of the principle that FASi can and does safely kill cancer cells.