Merck acquires Calporta Therapeutics from COI Pharmaceuticals
Category: #health  By Pankaj Singh  Date: 2019-11-14
  • share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Merck acquires Calporta Therapeutics from COI Pharmaceuticals
  • Merck will pay up to $576 million for the acquisition
     
  • Preclinical TRPML1 has the potential to treat neurodegenerative and lysosomal disorders

COI Pharmaceuticals has recently announced that Merck, also called MSD outside Canada and the United States, has acquired Calporta Therapeutics, Inc. Calporta is involved in developing selective small molecular agonists to TRPML1. The latter plays a major role in lysosomal function through promoting the lysosomal exocytosis and autophagy.

The preclinical stage TRPML1 agonists of Calporta is under evaluation due to its potential to be able to treat several neurodegenerative and lysosomal disorders. These disorders also include Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.

Apparently, Merck has acquired Calporta for a possible consideration of up to $576 million via an upfront payment as well as contingent milestone payments.

CEO of Calporta and the senior vice president at business development of COI Pharmaceuticals, Sanford J. Madigan, Ph.D., commented that the agreement with Merck will prove to be a significant milestone in the quick development of a novel therapeutic approach which will help millions suffering from degenerative disorders that occurs due to the accumulation of fats, proteins as well as other cellular macromolecules.

Vice president of neuroscience discovery at Merck Research Laboratories, Fiona Marshall Ph.D., stated that a rising number of evidence points towards the accumulation of toxic proteins being a common mechanism in neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Marshall further states that the company is looking forward to conducting more research for the evaluation of the potential of TRPML1 agonists to activate a clearance mechanism that the brain employs to be able to clear toxic proteins.

Changes in the TRPML1 function have been involved in numerous neurodegenerative diseases as well as dystrophies wherein the intracellular accumulation of all the fats and proteins have been revealed as toxic to the cells. The activation of TRPL1 signaling with the small molecules can restore the cellular functions and reestablish lysosomal processes.

 

Source Credit- https://www.coipharma.com/coi-pharmaceuticals-announces-acquisition-of-calporta-by-merck/

  • share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn


About Author

Pankaj Singh    

Pankaj Singh

With an experience as an insurance underwriter and a freelance writer under his belt, Pankaj Singh boasts of quite some expertise in the field of content creation. A qualified Post Graduate in Management, Pankaj has also completed a detailed course in Digital Marketin...

Read More

More News By Pankaj Singh

Escorts amps CAPEX to $51Mn for FY23; expects high e-tractors exports
Escorts amps CAPEX to $51Mn for FY23; expects high e-tractors exports
By Pankaj Singh

Escorts Ltd., an Indian engineering company that operates in the sectors of agricultural machinery, construction machinery, and railway equipment, has reportedly arranged CAPEX of around Rs 400 crore (USD 51 Million) for the current financial year in...

Hillstone unveils cloud workload protection platform ‘CloudArmour’
Hillstone unveils cloud workload protection platform ‘CloudArmour’
By Pankaj Singh

Hillstone Networks, an IT service management company, has recently announced the launch of its all-inclusive cloud workload protection platform (CWPP), Hillstone CloudArmour. According to sources, CloudArmour offers Hillstone’s enterprise-grad...

Whatfix announces takeover of Leap.is to extend mobile capabilities
Whatfix announces takeover of Leap.is to extend mobile capabilities
By Pankaj Singh

Whatfix, a SaaS-based platform that offers in-app guidance & performance support for web applications and software products, has recently announced that it is acquiring mobile-first onboarding and assistance platform, Leap.is (formerly known as J...