HAYWARD, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--April 15, 1999--KOSAN Biosciences,
Inc. announced today that it has received a Phase I Small Business Technology
Transfer Research (STTR) grant from the NIH National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke to pursue research targeted at designing
novel analogs of rapamycin and FK506 for the purpose of nerve regeneration.
The grant will support a collaborative effort between Kosan and
Professor Thomas C. Bruice, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Rapamycin and FK506 are natural products that belong to the class of
compounds known as polyketides. In addition to their utility as
immunosuppressive drugs, they also stimulate neurite outgrowth, and the two
activities are separable. Analogs of rapamycin and FK506 may have the
potential to become treatments for disorders of the central and peripheral
nervous systems involving nerve degeneration or damage, such as Parkinson's
disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic spinal cord and peripheral
neuropathies.
In the collaboration, Kosan will use its proprietary genetic engineering
technology to create new neuroregenerative analog compounds, and Dr. Bruice
will use computer-aided searching and modeling to identify promising analogs.
New analogs will be tested for nerve regeneration and active candidates will
be considered for development.
KOSAN Biosciences, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company
focused on the generation of small molecule compounds through genetic
engineering of biosynthetic pathways. The Company creates novel analogs of
polyketides, a class of natural products that has been a rich source of drugs
currently on the market.
Kosan's technology permits modifications of polyketides not feasible by
chemical methods, thereby greatly expanding the repertoire of polyketides.
Initial therapeutic targets for the Company's compounds include infectious
diseases, gastrointestinal motility disorders, respiratory inflammation,
cancer, nerve regeneration and immunosuppression.
For further information, please visit Kosan's web site at
http://www.kosan.com.
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CONTACT:
KOSAN Biosciences, Inc., Hayward
Michael S. Ostrach, 510/732-8400 x207
ostrach(AT)kosan.com