Chakra Biotech News

04 August 2008 - Dr Anil Ratty, Chief Scientific Architect of Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd to present at DDT Mumbai India
Dr Anil Ratty, Chief Scientific Architect of Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd has been invited to present at the Drug Discovery and Development of Innovative Therapeutics conference to be held from 20 - 22 October 2008 in Mumbai India. The conference is organised by IBC and brings together a full range of global pharma and biotech interested in outsourcing drug discovery and development work to the Asian region. Dr Ratty will present the validation of the chakragati mouse as a model for schizophrenia.

01 April 2008 - Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd commences operations at USAINS in Penang, Malaysia
Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd today announced that it had commenced operations at the USAINS Eureka Kompleks in Penang Malaysia. "Our plans are to build a world class neurobehavioural lab to help our customers screen new and existing drugs. In this way we can help them to discover new medicines for psychiatric and other CNS disorders" said Anthony Bishop a Director of the company who has been appointed as the CEO.

15 February 2008 - Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd awarded Biotechnology Commercialisation Grant by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation
Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd has been awarded a Biotechnology Commercialisation Grant by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation. The grant enables companies to set up operations and begin to develop international markets.

23 July 2007 - Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd awarded Bionexus status by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation
Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd has been awarded Bionexus status by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation. BioNexus Status is a designation awarded to qualifying biotechnology companies, making them eligible for privileges contained within the BioNexus Bill of Guarantees. "We appreciate the award of Bionexus Status to Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd and the invaluable assistance in many ways from Biotech Corp in setting up our company" said Anthony Bishop, Director of Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd.

May 2008 - Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd awarded SEED FUNDING from Malaysian Biotechnolgy Corporation
Chakra Biotech's subsidiary offering neurobehavioural screening in Malaysia was awaded the Biotechnology Commericalisation Grant from the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation.

August 2007 - Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc. and Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd. Establish Collaboration to Accelerate the Development of Novel Antipsychotic Compounds
Atlanta, GA and Singapore, September 4, 2007 - Tikvah Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on new treatment options to better manage central nervous system diseases, and Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd., a drug discovery and development company focusing on central nervous system disorders, today announced a collaboration and option agreement designed to advance and accelerate the development of four compounds targeted at a broad range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from Chakra Biotech Pte. Ltd.’s developmental pipeline. These compounds have shown robustly positive results in the chakragati (ckr) mouse model, a patented transgenic mouse model for dopamine dysfunction that has been validated as a model for screening antipsychotic compounds. Press Release.

March 2007 - Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd Established
Chakra Biotech Sdn Bhd was established to provide neurobehavioural screening services with the chakragati mouse model as well as conditioned animal behavioural models.

December 2006 - CB030006 Demonstrates Novel Antipsychotic Mechanism of Action
Binding studies on CB030006, Chakra Biotech’s lead antipsychotic compound point to a novel binding profile. In vitro binding studies performed by a global CRO combined with the efficacy shown in vivo in the patented ckr mouse model point to CB03006 as a broad spectrum psychosis treatment for indications including schizophrenia, depression, addiction and mood disorders. Binding studies covered dopamine (D1, D2s, D2l, D3, D4); serotonin (5HT1A, 5HT2A, 5HT2C), dopamine transporter (DAT) and serotonin transporter (SERT). Percentage inhibition assays indicate a novel mechanism of action for CB030006 with highest activity at 5HT2A and 5HT2C with modest activity at DAT, SERT and low activity at D2 receptors.

November 2006 - Formation of Scientific Advisory Board Completed
Chakra Biotech Chief Scientific Architect, Dr Anil K. Ratty is pleased to announce the completion of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). "The quality of our SAB is testament to the scientific interest in our intellectual property. This diverse group will be a strong guiding force for Chakra Biotech." The SAB includes a range of leading scientist and entrepreneurs from around the world. (For a full list of the SAB Members please download the Business Plan).

October 2006 - Formation of Chakra Biotech Board Completed
Chakra Biotech Pte Ltd (Chakra) is pleased to announce the addition of two new Directors to our Board. Anthony Bishop joined Chakra as CEO in May and is now formally added to the board as an Executive Director. Anthony has a strong background in drug development and business development. Mustaza is the Singapore Representative of the First Gulf Bank of Abu Dhabi and brings strong financial acumen and contacts to Chakra. Anthony and Mustaza join Dr Anil Ratty, Founder and Chief Scientific Architect and Harish Pillay, Chief Technology Officer Red Hat on the Chakra Board.

May 2006 - License Agreement signed with University of Buffalo
Chakra Biotech and the University of Buffalo have signed a worldwide exclusive license agreement for four classes of novel compounds. This agreement covers the development of the compounds in all therapeutic areas. “This agreement gives Chakra a wealth of compounds to screen. We have already had successful hits from our behavioural screening model and look forward to more as we screen more of the library,” said Anthony Bishop, CEO Chakra Biotech.

Published Articles:

1.    Dawe, G.S. & Ratty, A. K (2007) The chakragati mouse: A mouse model for rapid in vivo screening of antipsychotics drug candidates. Biotechnology Journal, November 2007 (to be published)

2.    Torres, G., Meeder, B.A., Hallas, B.H., Spernyak, J.A., Mazurchuk, R., Jones, C.A., Gross, K. W. and Horowitz, J.M. (2005) Ventricular size mapping in a transgenic model of schizophrenia. Dev. Brain Res., 154: 35-44

3.    Torres, G., Hallas, B.H., Vernace, V.A., Jones, C., Gross, K.W. and Horowitz, J.M. (2004) A neurobehavioural screening of the ckr mouse mutant: implications for an animal model of schizophrenia. Brain Res. Bull., 62: 315-326

4.    Smiraglia, D.J., Wu, C, Ellsworth, M.K., Ratty, A.K., Chapman, V.M. and Gross, K.W. (1997) Genetic characterisation of the chromosomal rearrangments that accompany the transgene insertion in the chakragati mouse mutant. Genomics 45: 572-579.

5.    Smiraglia, D.J., Ratty, A.K. and Gross, K.W. (1997) Physical characterisation of the chromosomal rearrangements that accompany the transgene insertion in the chakragati mouse mutant. Genomics 45:562-571.

6.    Ratty, A.K., Gross, K.W., Fitzgerald, L.W. & Glick, S.D. (1994) The chakragati mouse: A model for brain dopaminergic dysfunction In Dopamine Receptors and Transporters (H.B. Niznik, ed) pp 493-509, Marcel Dekker, Inc.

7.    Fitzgerald, L.W., Ratty, A.K., Titeler, M., Gross, K.W. & Glick, S.D. (1993) Specificity of behavioral and neurochemical dysfunction in the chakragati mouse: A novel genetic model of a movement disorder. Brain Research, 608: 247-258.

8.    Fitzgerald, L.W., Miller, K., Ratty, A.K., Glick, S.D., Titeler, M. & Gross, K.W. (1992) Asymmetric elevation of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in the chakragati mouse: Neurobehavioral dysfunction in a transgenic insertional mutant. Brain Research 580: 18-26.

9.    Ratty, A.K., Eddy, R., Shows, T.B. & Gross, K. (1992) Mapping of the mouse anonymous DNA fragment, D16Ros2, to human chromosome 3. Mammalian Genome 3: 46-47.

10.    Ratty, A.K., Matsuda, Y., Elliott, R., Chapman, V. & Gross, K. (1992) Genetic mapping of two DNA markers, D16Ros1 and D16Ros2, flanking the mutation site in the chakragati mouse, a transgenic insertional mutant. Mammalian Genome 3: 5-10.

11.    Fitzgerald, L.W., Ratty, A.K., Miller, K., Ellsworth, M.K., Glick, S.D. & Gross, K.W. (1991) The ontogeny of hyperactivity and circling behavior in a transgenic insertional mouse mutant. Behavioral Neuroscience 105: 753-761.

12.    Ratty, A.K., Fitzgerald, L.W., Titeler, M., Glick, S.D., Mullins, J.J. & Gross, K.W. (1990) Circling behavior exhibited by a transgenic insertional mutant. Mol. Brain Res. 8: 355-358.

Other Sources of Information

About Schizophrenia: Information, articles, answers can be found here.
www.psychiatry24x7.com

About the schizophrenia industry:
www.decisionresources.com