BioStratum

Business: Therapeutics for basal lamina-mediated diseases

Contact: Archie Prestayko, PhD, Pres. & CEO

Address: 249 Market Square, Lake Forest, IL 60045

Phone: [phone]

Founded: May 1994

The basal lamina, or "basement membrane", is an extracellular matrix composed of Type IV collagen and laminin that is present in every organ of the body. Due to its ubiquity, the basal lamina, which regulates cells' ability to cross tissue barriers and directs new tissue growth, among other functions, has at least a peripheral involvement in a suprisingly wide range of serious diseases, including cancer, AIDS, kidney disease, and others. Though the tissue has been a subject of biomedical research for the past 25 years, it is only within the last ten that breakthroughs have been made in the cloning and characterization of this structurally complex tissue matrix.

BioStratum Inc.was founded to exploit and commercialize therapeutic applications of these breakthroughs, particularly those of Dr. Karl Tryggvason of the Karolinska Institute and Dr. Billy Hudson of the University of Kansas Medical Center (both researchers are also VPs of R&D and scientific founders of BioStratum). Dr. Tryggvason's research has illuminated the steps by which metastatic tumor cells get a foothold in healthy tissue through interaction with the basal lamina. Invading tumors produce a protein called laminin g2, which BioStratum believes enables the tumor to adhere to the basal lamina while migrating through tissue. BioStratum now has an anti-laminin g2 molecule, as well as synthetic Type IV collagen peptides called Collamers, which may block tumor cells' ability to bind to Type IV collagen regions of the basal lamina, in preclinical studies for the inhibition of tumor metastasis.

Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center conducted by Dr. Hudson and Dr. Michael Sarras (now a BioStratum consultant) has revealed that isolated binding domains of Type IV collagen infused into the body may impede angiogenesis, the process by which tumor cells spur the formation of new blood vessels. BioStratum is currently testing compounds containing the Type IV collagen domains in mouse models.

Dr. Hudson's work has also led to new leads in diabetes treatment. Variations in the density of the basal lamina in the kidneys is believed to be strongly related to kidney failure in diabetics. The formation of "advanced glycation end-products" (AGEs) is believed to be a strong factor in the destruction of tissue in this area, and a number of research efforts (such as the collaboration between Alteon and Hoechst Marion Roussel) are targeting the inhibition of AGE production. Dr. Hudson's lab has identified a compound, pyridoxamine, that may inhibit the glycation process. BioStratum is currently conducting late preclinical studies on the compound.

BioStratum president and CEO Archie Prestayko was most recently president & CEO of Medco Research; before that, VP, R&D at SmithKline Beecham. EVP J. Wesley Fox, PhD was a co-founder of RiboGene and EnzyMed, and earlier held positions at Idexx and Abbott. VP, R&D Karl Tryggvason, MD, PhD is professor of medicinal chemistry at the Karolinska Institute. BioStratum was seeded with $500,000 in August ‘94; a June ‘95 Series B round raised an additional $2.92mm. Its October ‘96 Series C round raised $5.065mm, valuing the company at about $18.9mm. Venture partners include Ventana Financial Resources.—KR