Cleara Biotech B.V. , a Netherlands-based biopharmaceutical company, announced the creation of three public-private partnerships to discover and develop new therapeutics. Cleara has partnered with Dr. Peter de Keizer from the University Medical Center in Utrecht, Dr. Marco Demaria from the University Medical Center in Groningen, and Dr. Tobias Madl from the Medical University of Graz to engage in its discovery operations.
Cleara’s initial funding was led by founding investor Apollo Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm and company builder working across Europe and North America.
Cleara is a preclinical R&D company engaged in the creation of therapeutics targeting the unique biology of senescent cells to treat age-related pathologies and therapy-resistant cancer. Senescent cells are rare cells that accumulate in our bodies as we age and contribute to the aging process. Removing these cells has been shown to reverse signs of aging including muscle and hair loss, cancer development, energy levels, and even increase healthy lifespan of mice.
Cellular senescence is a new field of study, and some of the world’s top senescent cell researchers have come together in Cleara to translate their scientific work on mice into human therapeutics.
“These partnerships of top-notch academic institutions with drug development efforts will allow us to accelerate clinical development of our lead programs and provides an opportunity to treat multiple diseases by eliminating a patient’s senescent cells,” said de Keizer.
“Senescent cells contribute to many different diseases of aging: muscle loss, kidney disease, heart disease, and even cancers,” said Demaria. “That’s why mice live longer and healthier when we eliminate their senescent cells, they stop dying of the diseases that they would otherwise suffer from.”
The laboratories of de Keizer, Madl, and Demaria received worldwide attention with results showing senescent cells are a source for therapy resistance in cancer1 and the development of the prospectively designed FOXO4-based anti-senescence drugs, which can effectively target signs of aging in mice2.
_____________________________________________________________
1 Demaria M, O’Leary MN, Chang J, et al. Cellular senescence promotes adverse effects of chemotherapy and cancer relapse. Cancer discovery. 2017;7(2):165-176. doi:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-16-0241. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27979832
2 Baar MP, … Madl T, … de Keizer PLJ. Targeted Apoptosis of Senescent Cells Restores Tissue Homeostasis in Response to Chemotoxicity and Aging. Cell. 2017;169(1):132-147.e16. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.02.031. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28340339
(Source: Cleara Biotech B.V., Business Wire)
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
