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Non-Profit Founded to Advance Orphan Drug Research
CHAPEL HILL, NC – (September 25, 2007) Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) (www.askbio.com) announced the creation of the Chapel Hill Project (www.ChapelHillProject.org), a non-profit organization created to advance the development of cell and gene therapies for orphan diseases through increased scientific collaboration. AskBio formed such organization in response to the scientific community’s request to make its technology accessible to researchers for use in orphan drug development without the payment of any up-front costs.
Orphan diseases are life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Due to the small market size of orphan drugs, pharmaceutical companies do not generally invest significant funds toward their research and development. As a result, most sufferers of orphan diseases lack adequate treatments.
The Chapel Hill Project’s main goal is to facilitate the development of therapeutics for life threatening and other burdensome diseases for which no currently viable treatment option exists. By providing access to technology, scientific and clinical trials expertise and funding, the organization will aid in translating science from the laboratory to the clinic. An advisory board consisting of key clinicians and scientists will advise researchers, helping them turn scientific research into cost-effective, viable treatment options. The Chapel Hill Project will also act as a depository for intellectual property that can be used for the development of therapeutics for orphan diseases. AskBio is hopeful that other companies will contribute use of their cell and gene based technologies to this effort.
"We want to connect scientists and clinicians to expedite the translation of gene and cell based therapeutics for orphan diseases into the clinic," said Jude Samulski, Chief Scientific Officer of AskBio. "We encourage large pharmaceutical companies to provide researchers with access to their technology and assist with advancement into clinical trials either through the Chapel Hill project or through their own structures."
AskBio will provide the Chapel Hill Project with access to AskBio’s proprietary Biological NanoParticle (BNPTM) and Self-Complementary Vector technologies, which were developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and exclusively licensed to AskBio, for the treatment of certain orphan diseases. The Project will be funded primarily through government and foundational grants and through charitable contributions from interested supporters.
For more information about this topic, please contact Jade Samulski at (919) 968-2727 or by e-mail at jsamulski@askbio.com.
