Leukothera effectively treats psoriasis in humanized mouse xenograft transplantation model

Jun 15 2011

Psoriasis is a persistent, long-lasting chronic skin disease affecting 2-3 percent of the world's population or more than 125 million individuals.  For some, it is just a nuisance. For others, it is disabling.

On a continuing quest to find more effective treatment for psoriasis sufferers, an article published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology reported that the latest data from experiments performed by Actinobac Biomed, Inc., with financial backing from Foundation Venture Capital Group, LLC, successfully demonstrated the in vivo efficacy of the company's drug candidate, Leukothera™, in treating psoriasis in a humanized mouse xenograft transplantation model.  (http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/jid2011161a.html)

"Our results clearly show that the idea of depleting diseased white blood cells with Leukothera™ is a highly effective strategy for the treatment of psoriasis and other inflammatory diseases," said Dr. Scott Kachlany, Actinobac's founder.

The studies performed at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark showed Leukothera™ to be as effective as or better than Genentech's once marketed agent, efalizumab (Raptiva®), even when using significantly lower drug dosage levels.  Leukothera™ is a natural biologic agent that specifically targets malignant and/or inflammatory white blood cells involved in disease.  

"We provided early seed funding to Actinobac because we are convinced that they are working on breakthrough research that will make a huge impact to thousands and thousands of people around the world suffering from a variety of ailments," said James M. Golubieski, president of Foundation Venture Capital Group (www.foundationventure.com), an affiliate of New Jersey Health Foundation.  "The publication of Dr. Kachlany's findings relative to the treatment of psoriasis is proof of that."