Reata Pharmaceuticals will be provided with exclusive rights to a new class of anti-inflammatory compounds known as the tricyclic bis-enones (TBEs).
The TBE compounds work by activating the transcription factor Nrf2, which regulates the Phase 2 antioxidant response.
Activation of Nrf2 and induction of HO-1 are widely regarded as promising therapeutic strategies for treating a variety of inflammation-related medical conditions including cardiovascular disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
They have been shown to increase the expression levels of major cytoprotective and antioxidant proteins, including inducible heme oxygenase (HO-1).
Reata announced the completion of a license agreement with Dartmouth College and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Financial termsof the agreement were not disclosed.
The TBE compounds are structurally related to Reata's synthetic triterpenoids, which were developed by the same Dartmouth group.
Two of the triterpenoids (RTA 401 and RTA 402) are now in clinical development as anti- cancer and cytoprotective agents.
In preclinical studies, these triterpenoids have shown the remarkable ability to kill cancer cells while simultaneously protecting normal cells against the toxicities of traditional cancer therapies
"These drugs, like our synthetic triterpenoids, appear to hold tremendous medical and commercial potential," said Warren Huff, President and CEO of >Reata.
"We look forward to conducting further preclinical studies to explore their broad opportunities."