Perseo pharma, a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on breaking new ground in enzyme therapies, has entered a strategic research and development collaboration with Nestlé Health Science S.A. to develop up to three programs targeting enzyme deficiencies in patients suffering from digestive diseases.
Many people around the world suffer from digestive enzyme insufficiencies. The cause can be a defective pancreas (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency derived from cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, and other related diseases) or the consequences of a severe medical treatment (chemotherapy, antibiotics).
Current treatments include oral enzyme therapies. Often, those medicines lack efficiency as enzymes are fragile and once ingested, can quickly lose activity in the harsh gastrointestinal environment. In addition, they are rapidly flushed down the GI tract together with food and liquids. What patients must endure is a real pill burden, having to take multiple pills (up to 20) per day at every meal and snack, due to the rapid flushing, they lose the vital nutrition.
Perseo pharma’s goal is to develop a series of innovative patient-centered oral enzyme digestive therapies based on its proprietary bionanotechnology platform. The platform can be applied to any enzyme or cocktail of enzymes of therapeutic interest. This innovative technology protects the enzyme in a softshell and binds it specifically to the mucus of the small intestine, where the digestion takes place. Digestion efficiency can therefore be highly improved while the pill burden can be eliminated.
The strategic partnership Nestlé Health Sciences allows the companies to leverage their expertise to develop novel therapies for digestive diseases.
“We are incredibly excited to enter into a collaboration with Nestlé Health Science, a leader in the field of nutritional science. This collaboration reinforces our quest to find a novel way to treat digestive diseases” said Yves Dudal, CEO Perseo pharma. “Pairing our capabilities in developing innovative oral enzyme digestive therapies with Nestle Health Science’s commitment in this area will potentially bring meaningful and life-changing options to patients.
“Our collaboration with Perseo pharma has the potential to ease the burden of current therapies for patients with digestive enzyme deficiencies,” said Hans-Juergen Woerle, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer for Nestlé Health Science. “We are looking forward to working together to develop innovative solutions.”
(Press release / RAN)
Picture: TL Furrer / Fotolia
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