Gyrus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
A theraputic and diagnostic development company
Monday, November 14, 2016
Embassy Suites, Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania (directions)
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About
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Gyrus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Gyrus) was founded in 2014 to develop novel therapies for CNS diseases. Gyrus’s preliminary focus is on addressing the need for significantly improved disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer’s (AD). Peak annual market size for a highly effective AD drug is forecasted to be >$5 billion.
AD is a slowly debilitating and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by accumulation of toxic aggregates of fibrillar amyloid-beta (Abeta plaques) and tau phosphoproteins (neurofibrillary tangles), myelin dysfunction and neuroinflammation in the brain. AD robs patients of their memory, consciousness, ability to function independently in everyday life, and relationships with family and friends. AD afflicts more than 5 million people in the US, and kills more than 500,000 each year. It is responsible for well over $250 billion in annual healthcare costs and, given its prevalence, is anticipated to grow to more than 7 million living cases by 2025.
Drugs currently approved for AD modulate brain neurotransmitter signaling but do not meaningfully alter the trajectory of the disease. Multiple drugs targeting Abeta pathology have failed and/or underperformed in clinical trials because of their (1) inability to achieve efficacious levels of drug in the brain through peripheral administration without systemic toxicity, and/or (2) stimulation of deleterious immune responses. Therefore, noninvasive but direct administration of an effective non-immune-based Abeta-targeting drug to the brain should overcome both of these limitations.
Gyrus’s lead drug combines expression of a non-immune-based, therapeutic anti-Abeta peptide with a novel carbon polymer-based nanoparticle nucleic acid delivery system, both developed at a leading New York university. Gyrus intends to develop the combination of these technologies as an intranasal-administered gene therapy for AD.
Gyrus’s patent-protected therapeutic peptide inhibits fibrillar Abeta formation in vitro. When transgenically expressed in neurons of AD model mice the therapeutic peptide significantly reduces fibrillar Abeta deposition and rescues AD-related learning and memory impairment. Other studies demonstrate efficacy in reversing AD pathology in the brain in an AD model mouse when administered after pathology has progressed. Given its unique mechanism of action we hypothesize Gyrus’s therapeutic peptide also specifically prevents AD-associated myelin destruction, thereby providing an additional neuron-conserving activity beyond inhibition of Abeta fibril formation.
3 Major Issues
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- Financing: What are the must-have experimental data and/or demonstration points to reach an financeable milestone for angels, pharma partners, and VCs for an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug?
- Route of Administration: What challenges should be anticipated for intranasal delivery of a therapeutic?
- Clinical Indication: Considering the unique intranasal delivery system that directly targets CNS neurons, are infectious disease and/or oncology worthwhile additional targets?
Program:
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6:30 - Cocktails & Dinner (Cash bar and special 2-entree buffet menu)
8:00 - Daryl Spinner, President and co-founder of Gyrus, will deliver the Company's "Elevator" Pitch to the Group
8:20 - A Panel will address three major issues crucial to helping the Company reach the next level.
9:00 - Open discussion: members and guests
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 Slides
None available at this time
 Audio
None available at this time
 Video
None available at this time
 Webcast
Gyrus Webcast - 11/14/16
The panelist presentations begin at 27:50 with Bob Michel. Alan Gary's comments are at 40:15. You can drag the playhead to listen to audience comments.
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