Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company "Advancing Drugs Through Glycoscience ", has entered into a research collaboration with The Brigham and Women's Hospital to evaluate the anti-fibrotic effects of some of the company's novel, carbohydrate compounds to treat acute and chronic kidney disease.
Brigham and Women's Hospital is one of the largest, most respected research hospitals in the country. Pro-Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of carbohydrate-based therapeutic compounds for advanced treatment of cancer, liver, microbial, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, and viral infections.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, approximately 12 million people suffer from kidney fibrosis.
"Collaborating with Brigham and Women's Hospital represents an exciting opportunity to partner with a premier academic hospital to further explore the use of our novel compounds to treat kidney fibrosis," said Anatole Klyosov, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "We are encouraged by the effects our carbohydrate compounds had in the dissolution of scar tissue and reversal of liver fibrosis in animal models. We plan to continue to validate our initial findings and to expand the use of these novel carbohydrate compounds in other fibrotic diseases."
"The area of anti-fibrotics is generating great interest based on their potential to impact both acute and chronic kidney disease and I look forward to working with Pro-Pharmaceuticals," said Dr. Benjamin Humphreys, a Renal Division Researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Brigham and Womens' Hospital & Academic Research Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 747-bed non-profit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. BWH medical pre-eminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals.
Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 800 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $400M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative.
Pro-Pharmaceuticals is developing a series of novel carbohydrate compounds that reduced collagen expression and reversed liver fibrosis in animal models. Uncontrolled collagen expression is a pathological process that occurs during the fibrotic process, affecting various organs and leads to scar tissue. Chemical toxicity, microbial infection or physical injury cause hepatic, renal, cardiac and pulmonary fibrosis. Carbohydrate polymers were synthesized and screened to inhibit collagen production in in-vivo and in-vitro fibrosis models.