Arizona Engineered Therapeutics Inc., a new company based on the research of three
Arizona State University professors, is moving its first drug candidate closer to clinical trials.
The drug could potentially save the lives of people who suffer a stroke by providing a key protein that is missing in the body after such an incident. Because the drug works on relaxing smooth muscle cells in blood vessels, AzERx researchers think there may be several additional uses for their compound.
The primary compound of AzERx is based on the research of Colleen Brophy, director of the Center for Protein and Peptide Therapeutics at ASU's Arizona Biodesign Institute; and Lokesh Joshi, an associate professor and Alyssa Panitch, an assistant professor, both in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering of the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
AzERx Inc., was created with the assistance of the Arizona Technology Enterprises, ASU's technology venturing company.
AzERx's lead compound, called HSP20, is a small protein that relaxes the smooth muscle tissue surrounding an arterial wall to aid blood flow. This effect, the researchers found, can be beneficial to people who have suffered a specific type of stroke induced by a subarachnoid hemorrhage in the brain.
Elizabeth Furnish, director of research at AzERx, said subarachnoid hemorrhage is a particularly devastating condition that leaves up to half the people it affects (30,000 in the U.S. each year) either dead or severely debilitated.
“These are people in their 50s who are otherwise healthy,” Furnish said.
After the subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs, it causes blood to enter the brain triggering vasospasms of the cerebral arteries. The spasms increase the pressure in the brain and likelihood of a major stroke to the person. HSP20 relaxes those smooth muscle cells.