Leonard P. Guarente, a Founder of the Sirtuin Field, Signs Exclusive Consulting Agreement with Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Tuesday February 5, 8:00 am ET
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRT - News), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, announced today that Leonard P. Guarente, PhD, Novartis Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has signed a new, exclusive consulting agreement with Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Guarente first joined Sirtris’ Scientific Advisory Board as Co-Chair in November 2007.
“We are delighted to have deepened our relationship with Professor Guarente through this new agreement,” says Christoph Westphal, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. “Professor Guarente, a recognized founder of the sirtuin field and Co-Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board, provides critical guidance to our Scientific Advisory Board and his ideas and research shape our therapeutic efforts.”
“I am proud to serve as Co-Chair of Sirtris’ Scientific Advisory Board, and to be working with Sirtris alone in all sirtuin related fields,” says Leonard P. Guarente, PhD, the Novartis Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Sirtris has built a Scientific Advisory Board with every key opinion leader in the sirtuin field, and is well-positioned to develop therapeutics that target this family of genes for the treatment of diseases of aging.”
“Lenny has made and is making defining contributions to the sirtuin field,” says David Sinclair, PhD, Co-Founder of Sirtris and Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. “Through our ongoing collaborations, we and our Scientific Advisory Board members hope to further define the therapeutic avenues in this field,” added Sinclair, who also Co-Chairs Sirtris’ Scientific Advisory Board.
Sirtris recently announced positive Phase 1b clinical trial results with drug candidate SRT501, a proprietary formulation of resveratrol, in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. SRT501, which targets the SIRT1 enzyme, was found to be safe and well-tolerated, and significantly lowered glucose at the two-hour time point in an oral glucose tolerance test conducted as part of the 28 day Phase 1b trial of patients with Type 2 Diabetes who were naïve to treatment. Sirtris’ new chemical entities (NCEs) activate SIRT1 and are chemically distinct from and 1000 times more potent, in vitro, than resveratrol. The NCEs have been shown to lower glucose and improve insulin sensitivity in predictive preclinical models of Type 2 Diabetes. SIRT1 activators have the potential to be frontline therapy for Type 2 Diabetes.
About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing proprietary, orally available, small molecule drugs with the potential to treat diseases associated with aging, including metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. Our drug candidates are designed to mimic certain beneficial health effects of calorie restriction, without requiring a change in eating habits, by activation of sirtuins, a recently discovered class of enzymes that the Company believes control the aging process. The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, the potential therapeutic effects of SIRT1 activators such as SRT501 and NCEs for diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes:, the progress and results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of SIRT1 activators, and the potential of sirtuin modulators to receive regulatory approval. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the lack of results that would provide a basis for predicting whether any of the Company's product candidates will be safe or effective, or receive regulatory approval, the possibility that results of pre-clinical studies are not necessarily predictive of clinical trial results, the Company's potential inability to initiate and complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for its product candidates, the fact that none of the Company's product candidates has received regulatory approvals, the potential inability of the Company to gain market acceptance of the Company's product candidates, and those other risks factors that can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those Sirtris Pharmaceuticals contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.
Contact:
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
John Lacey, 617-252-6920
Associate Director of Corporate Communications
jlacey@sirtrispharma.com
or
For Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Pure Communications
Sheryl Seapy, 949-608-0841
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Source: Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
