Elixir Pharm :: Anti-Aging - For Profit

http://www.elixirpharm.com

We are a genomics-based drug discovery company developing products that slow aging. Our technology is based on recently discovered longevity genes.

Elixir is named among top 15 emerging biotech companies of 2003,
http://www.elixirpha...company/pr.html



02.12.03 - Elixir Pharmaceuticals And Centagenetix Complete Merger And Close $17 Million Financing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., February 12, 2003 –Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Centagenetix announced today completion of the merger of the two companies, previously announced January 13th, 2003, to create the premier company developing pharmaceutical products that address the diseases of aging. In conjunction with the merger the new company raised $17 million in the initial closing of an ongoing Series B round of financing led by MPM Capital, L.P., ARCH Venture Partners, and Oxford Bioscience Partners.


Cindy Bayley, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Bayley is a vice president of Elixir. Previously she was the principal at Bayley Associates and served as an affiliate of ARCH Venture Partners. Since 1992, she has worked with ARCH to help establish their entire biotechnology portfolio. She participates in decisions on investment opportunities and also helps put together those companies in which ARCH plays a founding role. She was a co-founder of the Icelandic genomics company deCODE Genetics, where she served as a director and a vice president for business development. She is also a co-founder of Adolor, which develops novel analgesics and pain therapeutics based on recent advances in proprietary medicinal chemistry and recombinant opioid receptor technology. She holds a B.S. in physics from the University of Rochester and both a Ph.D. in virology and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. Prior to beginning her graduate studies in biology and business, she managed a well-logging crew for several years as a general field engineer for Schlumberger Offshore Services.

Leonard Guarente, Ph.D.
Dr. Guarente, a director of Elixir, is the Novartis Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He directs one of the leading yeast molecular genetics laboratories in the world. His research is now focused almost entirely on aging and he is an internationally acknowledged leader in the field. He is the senior author on more than 140 articles in leading scientific journals. He earned a B.S. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Harvard University, where he was also a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow while training with Mark Ptashne as a postdoctoral fellow. He returned to M.I.T. as a faculty member in 1981.


Cynthia Kenyon, Ph.D.
Dr. Kenyon is the Herbert Boyer Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. She directs one of the leading C. elegans laboratories in the world, with a research focus on development as well as aging. She is the senior author on over 70 publications in leading scientific journals, over half of which have appeared in the highest-impact journals Cell, Nature, and Science. She recently received the prestigious King Faisal Award for research in medicine. She has been a recipient of a Searle Scholarship and a Packard Fellowship, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Two interesting articles to do with Cynthia Kenyon, one of the founders of Elixir Pharmaceuticals.

Not quite current but still very encouraging.

Foundation Grants $12 Million for UCSF Research

UCSF has announced grants of more than $12 million from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation for the creation of a new research center on the basic biology of aging, as well as research programs in diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases and eye disorders.

Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, UCSF professor in biochemistry and biophysics and a pioneer in the field of aging research, will direct the Hillblom Center. Her discoveries in tiny roundworms on biological regulation of aging are influencing research for humans.

http://pub.ucsf.edu/...ws_id=200211082

and

Patent Rights to UCSF Aging Research Licensed to Biotech Company

UCSF has completed a license agreement with Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to provide the company access to aging-related genetics discoveries made by one of Elixir's founders, Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, the Herbert Boyer Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF.

http://pub.ucsf.edu/...ws_id=200301281

Edited by kperrott, 15 May 2003 - 05:50 AM.

And perhaps a more interesting development is the addition of a new member to Elixir Pharma's board of directors..

Elixir Pharmaceuticals Appoints Merck Executive, Dr. Bennett M. Shapiro, to Its Board of Directors

seems like they're generating more than a little interest with some big guns..

Cool, Leonard Guarente, I have read a number of his papers, and he used to work alongside my Honours supervisor to be.

The Hillblom grant provides $7.5 million for construction of laboratory space and $500,000 in seed money for innovative research.

...this makes me sad...

Edited by johnbellceo, 20 April 2005 - 03:38 PM.

Edited by johnbellceo, 20 April 2005 - 02:45 PM.

We are continuing research in a method to interface supercomputing power with genetic research into cancer, disease, and aging. Significant progress has been made in the development of the supercomputer design and simulation and can be monitored at our website. We are planning to attend the conference at Cambridge if possible in September. We have begun working with a center for Medical research and when we have formal research programs with results to publish, they will be annnounced.

John Bell CDN

Excellent work, John. Thanks for the update.

A little older and a lot wiser I have also been communicating with Aubrey de Grey in U.K. and have recently seen an incredible renewed interest by the U.S. Government in aging research and even new grants and funding for such work. I would highly recommend attending the meeting in September which is involved with the Methusalah project and an impressive list of speakers on the newest discoveries in aging research. Marshall University in West Virginia is constructing new facilities for Cancer Research and has some of the best DNA and genetic research equipment. Only through worldwide cooperation across racial and political barriers, can we truly see a reversal of the aging process in our lifetimes.

Good to hear your optimism, John.. hope to hear more soon.

Link: http://www.eurekaler...m-npr062905.php

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Public release date: 3-Jul-2005

Contact: Justin Jackson
jjackson@burnsmc.com
212-213-0006
Burns McClellan

Nature publication reports key links between mechanisms of aging and metabolic disorders
Obesity and diabetes seen as accelerated aging; research has broad implications in treating disease and new drug discovery
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 5, 2005 – During the last decade researchers have made a number of important discoveries about the molecular mechanisms regulating aging. This research has suggested the exciting prospect that the rate of aging can be manipulated and slowed, leading to longer human lifespan. A major peer-reviewed article in the current issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery describes the intimate links between these pathways of aging and those of metabolic disease, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. The authors describe how these insights open the door to novel classes of drugs which can be developed to not only treat diabetes and obesity, but also effectively slow the aging process and extend lifespan. These and other findings are reviewed in the article, "Aging and Metabolism: Drug Discovery Opportunities", authored by Elixir Pharmaceuticals' researchers Drs. Rory Curtis, Bard J. Geesaman and Peter S. DiStefano and appearing in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (July 2005, Vol. 4, No. 7).

John Kopchick, Ph.D., Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Molecular Biology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Konneker Research Center, Ohio University, commented, "This article provides an elegant and comprehensive survey of the essential connections between metabolic disease pathways and aging. The potential of this research is profound: Modulating these pathways may not only uncover yet unknown therapeutic targets and/or drugs to treat metabolic disease, but also has the potential to impact the progression of aging itself."

Summary of the article

Aging is a major risk factor for several major diseases including cancers, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. Many of the genes discovered over the last decade that are known to affect lifespan belong to evolutionarily conserved biochemical pathways that are also intricately involved in the control of energy metabolism. Diabetes can be considered as an accelerated form of aging. Insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation are culprits in the pathogenesis of metabolic disease and these factors predispose organisms to premature aging. Several of these gene products, i.e., the encoded proteins, represent good molecular targets for drug discovery for the major metabolic diseases (obesity, type 2 diabetes). The article provides a roadmap to identify drugs to treat and prevent metabolic diseases; biomarkers identified during the course of clinical trials with these drugs may lay the foundation for drugs that increase lifespan. Targeting the mechanisms of aging provides a novel means for discovering drugs to treat metabolic diseases as well as other important age-related diseases.

Pathways of Aging

Much research has focused on the role of insulin resistance in aging. According to the authors, "in situations where plentiful high-calorie food is combined with a sedentary existence, the pancreas increases insulin secretion above normal levels in order to dispose of sustained excess blood glucose which, over time, leads to the deposition of visceral fat." Two major effects result: Increased visceral fat initiates a metabolic cascade that impairs insulin signaling in the body, and greater levels of insulin cause visceral fat to secrete substances that reduce insulin sensitivity in tissues.

As the authors note, "Eventually, this feed-forward cycle leads to an altered metabolic state involving very high levels of insulin (hyperinsulinemia) induced by resistance to insulin, even under fasting conditions. This state triggers a constellation of related complications, collectively referred to as metabolic syndrome."

According to the Nature authors, many of the genes implicated in the modulation of lifespan are well-conserved from lower organisms right up through humans. In addition, these genes code for receptors enzymes and transporters, and are therefore suitable targets for drug development. These include: 1) the SIR2/SIRT class of deacetylases, known to increase lifespan when over-expressed in yeast and flies, 2) insulin/insulin-like growth factor receptor, which increases lifespan in worms and mice when deleted in certain tissues, 3) AMP kinase, an enzyme that acts as a fuel sensor and is a target of the anti-diabetic drug metformin, and 4) INDY ('I'm not dead yet'), a cell surface transporter known to increase lifespan in flies when mutated.

Dr. Kopchick stated, "The article by DiStefano et al. will stimulate a paradigm shift in our thinking about aging and age-related disorders. As pointed out by the authors, we are beginning to recognize that metabolic syndrome, in addition to being a precursor of serious diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, may be a sign of premature aging. For patients, this translates into the potential of a variety of novel drugs emerging from the science of aging, which then will be tested clinically in the treatment of metabolic diseases. What an exciting possibility!

In the United States, nearly twelve million people have type 2 diabetes and another 60+ million are obese. The numbers are growing dramatically and are expected to double over the next 25 years. In addition to the direct burdens (e.g. patient quality of life, economic) of these metabolic diseases, diabetes and obesity are also risk factors contributing to higher and earlier rates of a variety of life-threatening conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease – all commonly referred to as diseases of aging.


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About Elixir Pharmaceuticals
Elixir is a biopharmaceutical company focused on exploiting its Optimal Aging scientific platform to discover, develop, and market new drugs for the treatment and prevention of metabolic disorders, as well as the prevention of age-related diseases. The Company's research and discovery programs are based on a unique understanding of the genetics and biochemical pathways of aging. More information about Elixir is available at www.elixirpharm.com

CONTACT: Elixir Pharmaceuticals Pete DiStefano, 617-995-7000 or Burns McClellan Media: Justin Jackson, Investors: Francine Pollack 212-213-0006 jjackson@burnsmc.com fpollack@burnsmc.com

CDN - Crystalware Defense and Nanotechnology continues to work on new interconnect technology and other applications. We are still most intrigued by Elixir Pharmaceuticals work, although it has been some time since we spoke to them. Now located in West Virginia, part of the applications of our technology will be in the area of aging research and supply companies on the cutting edge of such research with machines which can process via Linux to our own SCOS proprietary system, extremely fast processing speeds. You can still find us at http://www.crystalwareinc.com and a recent update by J.R. our CTO on the new interconnect technology as well as comparisons with other supercomputers in use.

As we baby boomers (speaking for myself) approach our 60s it is rather pressing that we explore new data on protein folding and work done by Cynthia Kenyon and her associates at Wormworld in the Bay Area.

We certainly wish Elixir Pharmaceuticals the best in developing new drugs to extend life. We also feel that research in molecular surgery and in layman's terms, the inhibition of signals sent by key genes which actually accelerates aging, is a parallel field which should be investigated as well.

jb