Start-Up Previews (02/2009)
Executive Summary
A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, "Building the Next-Generation of GPCR-Targeting Drugs," features profiles of Catena Pharmaceuticals, Dimerix Bioscience, Heptares Therapeutics and Trevena. Plus these Start-Ups Across Health Care: Carmat, Glycan Biosciences, Itero and MaRVis Technologies.
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MaRVis Technologies GMBH
Physicians continue to wait patiently for the day they can perform interventional cardiovascular and neurological procedures using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for guidance instead of x-ray. However, current guidewires and catheters don't work because they contain metal components that can distort MR imaging or potentially heat up inside the patient. To the rescue: MaRVis Technologies, which is developing guidewires and catheters that lack a metal core. The company's devices are built in a multi-composite manner--from core rods composed of fiberglass filaments enclosed with epoxy resin and doped with small metal particles--for MRI compatibility and visualization and to maintain the desirable material characteristics of current guidewires and catheters.
Carmat SAS
Paris-based start-up Carmat has developed an artificial replacement heart that relies on high-tech sensor technology similar to that used in satellites and airplanes. The result, according to the company, is an artificial heart capable of detecting the patient's needs and responding to them automatically. The Carmat heart is not a ventricular-assist device, but is designed as a permanent replacement for the diseased heart.
Trevena Inc.
Trevena has carved out a niche in seeking so-called 'biased ligands'--GPCR-binding compounds that selectively activate just one (or a few) of the many biological pathways mediated via a particular GPCR complex. By identifying a ligand that hits the pathways responsible for a medicine's benefits, and avoiding those behind the ill effects, the company hopes to develop safer and more effective therapies, initially in CNS and cardiovascular disease.