Drug Discovery at Advinus is focused on generating novel small molecule therapies for indications in three disease clusters: Metabolic Disorders, Inflammatory Diseases, and Neglected Diseases of the developing world.

Project oriented multidisciplinary teams consisting of medicinal chemists, molecular and cell biologists, biochemists, pharmacologists, physiologists and pharmaceutical scientists drive programs from hit to clinical candidate. Pre-clinical and early clinical development is also carried out by the Advinus team. Our collaborative drug discovery activity generates intellectual property that will be available for licensing at any stage from clinical candidacy onward.

The primary thrust in Metabolic Disorders is in Diabetes and Obesity as well as the lipid component of cardiovascular risk.

In the area of Diabetes, the approaches are many faceted and address the three areas of dysfunction, namely hepatic glucose production, peripheral insulin resistance and insulin secretion by beta cells. The aim of these therapies will focus on reducing hyperglycemia and will not address complications that arise due to diabetes.

Obesity approaches focus on both energy intake and energy expenditure in order to provide safe therapies for weight loss. Thus drugs that induce satiety through Central Nervous System or the Gastrointestinal tract and reduce food consumption or increase fat oxidation in the periphery without any mechanism based side effects will be identified for clinical proof-of-concept studies.

In the lipid area, statins have provided a robust means of lowering LDL cholesterol, which is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. However, current research shows added benefit of increasing reverse cholesterol transport from the periphery to the liver, via increasing HDL. The common outcome of reducing cardiovascular risk in these indications can lead to novel approaches that address the growing concern over a cluster of risk factors that comprise the “Metabolic Syndrome”.

Top

In the Inflammatory Diseases area, our main thrust is in respiratory diseases such as asthma and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and in autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis and psoriasis, which have many common underlying molecular mechanisms, will also be added to the effort as adjunct to existing programs in the above indications. The concept of Multifunctional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents will be fully exploited to provide therapies for specific indications after testing in appropriate models and early clinical trials for optimal activity.

Top

Diseases such as Leshmaniasis, dengue fever, tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria ravage the populations of the developing world. The high cost of discovering new therapies has discouraged global pharmaceutical companies from investing into this area. However, these “neglected” diseases continue to pose serious health issues to populations in the Third World and developing countries. India is unique in that, its populace suffers both from diseases of the developed world such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well as infectious disorders such as malaria and dengue. In addition, India has the uniqueness of having extensive capabilities in Science and medicine to discover new therapies in these areas compared to other developing nations in Asia and Africa. Advinus, as a good global corporate citizen is also dedicating efforts to develop novel therapies for such neglected diseases.

Top

Advinus is interested in partnering with the global Pharma and Biotech companies for its discovery programs. In addition we are also interested in sponsored research from Global not-for-profit organizations for our “Neglected Disease” program.

Please contact our business development group at bd@advinus.com for additional information.