Irvine, CA - Rubicon Biotechnology LLC is pleased to announce a grant award from the US Army Medical Research & Development Command (USAMRDC) to study Rubicon’s Rapid Recovery technology in ocular cytoprotection. The project, titled “Rapid Delivery of Hsp72 for Ocular Cytoprotection After a Traumatic Brain Injury” is supported by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and endorsed by the Department of Defense through the Vision Research Program under Award No. W81XWH-20-2-0066. Rubicon is collaborating with several leading research institutions in the US on this program.
Up to 75% of those suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) develop visual dysfunction. Rodent models of blast injury have highlighted the links between TBI and visual impairment. The focus of our study is the treatment of eye injuries caused by blast trauma in an acute or prolonged field care setting and, in particular, prevention of apoptosis and cell stress in the retina and optic nerve of the warfighter post-blast by administering our Rapid Recovery technology to the vitreous of the eye.
Rubicon’s Rapid Recovery drug technology is a fusion protein called Fv-Hsp72 consisting of a cell penetrating antibody fragment attached to a human Hsp72 that has been structurally re-engineered to robustly withstand the protein damaging microenvironment surrounding injured tissues. Fv-Hsp72 has no competitors and will be a first-in-man drug. Our approach delivers Hsp72 directly into stressed and dying cells with greater speed than any conventional method, including gene induction. The superiority of our approach avoids the significant lag times (up to 72 hours) that occur when using a small molecule to induce Hsp72 production post-TBI. Placing therapeutic doses of exogenous human Hsp72 into the area of greatest injury within minutes also avoids the natural decrease in gene expression that occurs in older patients.
The studies in this grant include determining the Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) using intravitreal (IVT) delivery. Once the MTD is established, the efficacy of Fv-Hsp72 will be determined as a single bolus administration post-blast. This work will also lay the ground work for further funding to evaluate the benefits of Fv-Hsp72 administration to the eye after a blunt trauma.
“These proof-of-principle studies that show Fv-Hsp72 efficacy in treating visual damage will complement our on-going studies and broaden the applicability of Fv-Hsp72 in the treatment of TBI-related injuries. Our long-term goal is the adoption of Fv-Hsp72 to treat a wide variety of traumatic tissue injuries both in military and civilian life. We intend to develop Fv-Hsp72 as a platform technology where a big pharma partner would carry the drug through Phase III development and commercialization for multiple indications.”, commented Dr. Missag H. Parseghian, Rubicon’s Founding Partner and CSO.
About Rubicon Biotechnology
Rubicon Biotechnology is a privately held biotechnology company that develops targeted, life-saving technologies in the areas of cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology and oncology. Rubicon has in-licensed two platform technologies for drug development. The first is Fv-Hsp72 from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which delivers heat shock protein 72, a key protein which saves injured cells suffering hypoxic and oxidative stresses that occur following common tissue injuries, such as heart attack, stroke and traumatic brain injury. The second technology, Modified Annexin A5, licensed from MosaMedix B.V., delivers tumor-targeted immunostimulants to enhance the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. Rubicon is developing these platform therapies with the goal of improving health outcomes and saving lives.
About the Awarding Agency
This work is supported by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, through the Vision Research Program under Award No. W81XWH2020066. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of Rubicon Biotechnology and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense. The award is administered by the US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 839 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014.