ROCKVILLE, Md., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VLP Therapeutics,
Inc. ("VLP"), a Rockville-based
biotechnology company focusing on the research and development of
next generation antibody agents and therapeutic as well as
preventive vaccines based upon a novel and proprietary i-αVLP
technology (which stands for "inserted alpha virus like particle"),
today announced that Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D.,
Co-Founder and former Chair, Chief Executive Officer and Chief
Scientific Officer of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCMP)
("Sucampo") will join VLP as Chair and Chief Medical Officer,
effective today.
"I am very excited with the addition of Dr. Ueno to our team.
Dr. Ueno brings tremendous expertise in pharmaceutical discovery,
research and development as well as growing and managing a
biotechnology company from its start-up to a publicly listed stage.
Dr. Ueno's proven track record in successfully bringing two
novel products to the market based upon his own prostone platform
technology and growing Sucampo as a publicly traded global
pharmaceutical company will provide immediate value and credential
to VLP as we focus on the growth of our business and try to
introduce innovative and breakthrough treatments to address global
unmet medical needs," said Dr. Wataru
Akahata, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of
VLP. "I established VLP in order to create a revolutionary
vaccine therapy that provides the greater social impact and is
accessible by the patients globally who are underserved by or
cannot access the current treatments. With the expertise of
Dr. Ueno, I believe we can now facilitate the research and
development of our compounds to initiate the clinical development
to create new medication for a number of patients with unmet
medical need" continued Dr. Akahata.
Dr. Ryuji Ueno is an
internationally recognized expert in pharmacology, physiology and
biochemistry of prostones – naturally occurring (endogenous) fatty
acids - and their related compounds. After 10 years of
biomedical research, Dr. Ueno, together with Dr. Sachiko Kuno, co-founded two pharmaceutical
companies - R-Tech Ueno, Ltd. in Japan and Sucampo in the U.S., both of which
are now publicly traded companies, and market prostone-based drugs
discovered by Dr. Ueno. Rescula® Eye Drops, an anti-glaucoma
treatment, was commercialized in Japan in 1994 and have been sold in more than
45 countries, including the United
States. AMITIZA® (lubiprostone) was approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration for the treatments of chronic
idiopathic constipation in adults, irritable bowel syndrome with
constipation and opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic
non-cancer pain in 2006, 2008 and 2013 respectively, and also
received regulatory approval in Switzerland, United
Kingdom and Japan. Dr. Ueno has authored more than 100
articles in notable scientific journals and his work has led to
more than 1,000 patents and patent applications worldwide.
Dr. Ueno obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in medicinal chemistry
from Keio University (Japan), and earned a second Ph.D. in
pharmacology from Osaka University
(Japan). He spent his academic
career at Columbia University
(USA), Kyoto
University (Japan) and
Osaka University (Japan). He is a recipient of numerous
awards including; Foundation for Fighting Blindness Visionary Award
(2014), Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the
Greater Washington Area in the
Life Sciences (2007) and Japan Innovator Award (2006), and serves
as Honorary Member of American Gastroenterological
Association.
About i-αVLP (or inserted-alpha virus like particle) Platform
Technology
Today, molecular targeted therapy, using monoclonal antibodies,
has been established as effective therapy to treat various
diseases, such as cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases.
However, clinicians continue to seek additional monoclonal
antibodies as molecular targeted therapy that are efficacious.
Additionally, monoclonal antibody used as effective immunotherapy
is still very limited. Despite such needs, because of the
complexity of creating monoclonal antibodies and difficulty in
finding an appropriate target, a few new agents are coming to the
clinic.
Virus like particles (VLPs) are multiprotein structures that
mimic the organization and conformation of authentic native viruses
without the genomic DNA or RNA of native viruses. These particles,
when presented to the immune system, evoke effective immune
responses without triggering the side effects associated with the
native virus. Our novel, proprietary i-αVLP technology was created
utilizing alphavirus VLPs. Utilizing this α-VLP technology and
leveraging its potency, VLP Therapeutics successfully developed a
new compound by inserting a target antigen into the specific area
of αVLPs (thus, "inserted" or i-αVLP). Our method to create i-αVLP
is superior to and more efficient than creating traditional
monoclonal antibodies because of the following reasons:
i) High yield of antibodies against inserted
antigens;
ii) Selectivity of domain/epitope of antigens; and
iii) Structural antigen design to keep antigen structural
conformation.
These advantages are a result of several unique characteristics
associated with i-αVLP, which includes repetitive and highly
symmetric array, large particle size, availability of other
scaffold αVLP to boost the same target antigen, and novel and
proprietary method developed and already established by us to
insert specific antigen into a specific section of αVLP.
Because we already established a method to insert various
antigens into our αVLP, we can facilitate the screening of antigens
and select the most promising agents for further development. If
successful, this would provide wider and innovative treatment
options for the clinicians as well as for the patients.
Furthermore, because of its potency, it allows the production of
antigens against historically difficult to target viruses or
proteins.
Additionally, our i-αVLP has a potential to be developed as
therapeutic or preventive vaccines. We are now actively
developing Malaria vaccine based on i-αVLP technology. We are also
exploring the development of cancer vaccines utilizing i-αVLP
technology.
About VLP Therapeutics
VLP was established in 2012 based upon novel, proprietary i-αVLP
technology discovered by its co-founder Dr. Akahata, with a mission
to develop innovative medical treatment which transforms
traditional targeted antibody and vaccine therapies to address
global unmet medical needs and to combat the 21st
century global public health problems. Prior to establishing VLP,
Dr. Akahata was a senior researcher at the Vaccine Research Center,
National Institutes of Health ("NIH"). He successfully created the
world's first virus like particle for alphavirus in 2010 and has
over 10 years' experience in vaccine development against emerging
infectious diseases such as HIV, alphaviruses and flaviviruses. VLP
is currently developing next generation of targeted antibody agents
as well as preventative and therapeutic vaccines based upon i-αVLP
technology to treat cancer, infectious diseases and auto-immune
diseases.
For more information, please visit www.vlptherapeutics.com,
CONTACT: VLP Therapeutics, Inc., (301) 941-8111
SOURCE VLP Therapeutics, Inc.