PharmaTelevision - Mercury Therapeutics: Novel Approaches in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

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Video title: Mercury Therapeutics: Novel Approaches in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

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In this interview, filmed at the recent BioEurope conference in Madrid, Fintan Walton speaks with Dr. Neal Birnberg, CEO of Mercury Therapeutics, and Stan Yakatan, Chairman of Mercury’s Board of Directors. Mercury Therapeutics was founded in 2001 and its main focus is on the discovery and development of orally active small molecule activators of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). The company has recently filed for patent protection on three lead compounds that directly and specifically activate AMPK and estimate they are about 16-18 months away from IND filing on those compounds. As Mercury’s direction has changed over the years, from a company originally creating screening technology to an early-stage drug development company, they are actively seeking new strategic partners to help them further their efforts to discover novel treatments for unmet medical needs.

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Origins of Mercury Therapeutics and the science of AMP Kinase.

Fintan Walton:

Hello and welcome to PharmaVentures Business Review here in Madrid. On this show I have two gentlemen from Mercury Therapeutics, I've got the CEO, Neal Birnberg who is from Woburn, Massachusetts where the company is based and Stan Yakatan, who is the Chairman of Mercury Therapeutics. Welcome to the show. Neal, you're one of the founders of this business, the company is originally incorporated in 1996, it started operations in 2001 it has a specific interest in the metabolic disease area and it has a specific target of AMP-kinase and as a basis to its science, could you describe why Mercury Therapeutics was founded and why you are focus has been on this specific area.

Neal Birnberg:

Well AMP-kinase turns out as a very important regulator of the way insulin is handled by the body. And while most of the contemporary diabetes drugs are designed to increase insulin production or enhance the response to insulin. Mercury Therapeutics focusing on AMP-kinase allows the body to reverse some of the deleterious effects of obesity and the aging process by enhancing insulin sensitivity in the liver and skeletal muscle, what that does is it lowers your blood glucose levels in the morning when you wake up and following meals the two times when elevated glucose can cause the most harm to the body and we feel that AMP-kinase as a drug target will provide novel and powerful methods for controlling blood glucose in ways that are not available today.

Fintan Walton:

This ability to an key component of AMP-kinase has implications not just only in diabetes in those who have it has a implications also in areas like obesity, is that correct?

Neal Birnberg:

Absolutely. AMP-Kinase has been shown when it is activated to enhance the physiology that opposes what is known as the metabolic syndrome which is a collection of metabolic in disease that collectively point to cardiovascular disease risk, enhanced mortality for a variety of reasons and the activation of AMP-kinase in the body will lower HDL and LDL lower LDL levels, it will lower blood glucose levels, it will decrease obesity and it will decrease blood pressure. And we believe that all of these effects can potentially be harnessed by the development of a small molecule drug that can be directed towards the activation of AMP-kinase in people.

Fintan Walton:

So does that mean you know there are lot of particular indications there are you likely to find molecules that behave differently, so that they will have preferred use in some indications over others with the target such as AMP-kinase?

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Stan Yakatan

Chairman

Dr. Birnberg is the President & CEO and a co-founder of Mercury Therapeutics. Dr. Birnberg received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1976 from Tufts University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon in 1981. Prior to entering the private sector, Dr. Birnberg led a research team at Yale Medical School where he was a professor in the Department of Pharmacology from 1986 to 1992. In 1993 Dr. Birnberg joined the biotech startup Creagen, Inc. as Scientific Director and was part of the management team that successfully engineered a merger with Neurex, Inc. resulting in a substantial gain for Creagen's shareholder. Following the Neurex merger in 1994, Dr. Birnberg joined the biotech startup Cystar, Inc. as the Director of Research and Development. In 1996, Dr. Birnberg and a team of academic colleagues founded Mercury Therapeutics. Mr. Yakatan is an experienced CEO, entrepreneur and operational manager with C-level executive experience at leading health science companies including New England Nuclear, EI Dupont, ICN Pharma, New Brunswick Scientific, and Biosearch. Mr. Yakatan has founded or co-founded in excess of 15 companies in the U.S., Canada, Israel, France, and Germany. He has advised several of the world's leading venture capital firms including TVM, Ventana, MSP, and Biocapital. In addition to serving as the Chairman of MTI, Mr. Yakatan currently serves as the chairman of Grant Life Sciences, Inc, and serves on the board of directors of Biophan and of Phenomenome Discoveries, Inc. Mr. Yakatan is the Executive Director and Chairman of Biocomm, a Melbourne, Australia business development and early stage capital pool, and is a senior advisor to XL TechGroup, Inc.

Mercury Therapeutics

Mercury Therapeutics(MTI) is an early stage drug discovery company founded in 2001 that focuses on the development of small molecule candidates against a number of selected protein kinase drug targets in metabolic disease and oncology. Mercury Therapeutics main focus is on the discovery and development of orally active small molecule activators of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). The potential indications of a successful AMPK targeted drug include: Type 2 diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Endocrine cancers - prostate, breast, ovarian The company has recently filed for patent protection on three lead compounds that directly and specifically activate AMPK.