The FDA has approved EPO to treat patients with anemia associated with renal or kidney failure, cancer chemotherapy and some cases of HIV, as well as those needing blood transfusions after surgery. The drug is effective, but has to be injected two or three times a week, Sytkowski said.
"Patients and physicians are looking for ways to prolong the action of the drugs so the injections can be given less frequently," he said. "It's more convenient, and we believe we'll get more compliance if they only have to get it once every two weeks."
Sytkowski began working on a longer-acting drug, one with "enhanced zing," several years ago.
DNAPrint will develop a drug based on those findings, while also using its genetic expertise to help the small group of people resistant to EPO treatment.
"We know from other drug studies that groups of people have certain small genetic differences that cause them to metabolize a drug differently," Sytkowski said. "DNAPrint thinks they may be able to derive a diagnostic test that would predict EPO resistance."
DNAPrint, with 12 employees, already is working on a different diagnostic test -- one to predict how cancer patients will respond to various chemotherapies -- with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
