Pipeline and Technology

Compounds

Chakra Biotech has an exclusive world-wide license to five patents covering a range of novel compounds synthezised with a specific chiral orientation, which simplifies the preclinical development and manufacture of the compounds. The patented manufacturing process allows the number of steps for chemical synthesis of these compounds to be reduced substantially. Screening a portion of the compounds through Chakra’s mouse model has identified six leads with significant potential as drugs targeting schizophrenia and depression.

Four of our lead antipsychotic compounds targeting schizophrenia are being developed towards human clinical trials in a collaboative relationship with Tikvah Therapeutics (www.tikvahtherapeutics.com). These four leads show positive results in our mouse model and have positive novel in vitro binding patterns. Our other leads for depression are being developed internally.

Schizophrenia is a complex disease with patients exhibiting a varied range of symptoms presenting an orchestra of targets for drug development. The current approach to drug discovery is built on the target-centric premise of a hypothesized single target. The single target approach decreases the chance of discovering molecules that are able to therapeutically manipulate schizophrenia's orchestra of targets.

A major problem facing the pharmaceutical industry in CNS therapeutics development is the lack of animal models with predictive validity in an array of aspects of CNS disorders. Without effective screening in an animal model that resembles the disease, development resources are wasted on compounds that are later shown to be ineffective in human clinical trials.

Chakragati Mouse Model

Chakra Biotech has a world-wide exclusive license to a mouse model for dopamine dysfunction, validated as a model for screening antipsychotic compounds. This transgenic mouse model displays numerous aspects of schizophrenia. . The chakragati mouse model exhibits a hypertone of the dopamine system in the striatum, hyperactivity and hyperreactivity, deficits in pre-pulse inhibition and latent inhibition (reversed by antipsychotics) and enlarged lateral ventricles.

Chakra’s approach to screening compounds allows us to identify compounds that are effective against a range pathologies associated with schizophrenia, which overcomes the limitation with the current single-target approach.

“These novel compounds are potentially important new agents because they have been identified through a unique physiologically based transgenic mouse model of dopamine function. This greatly increases the likelihood of success in the clinic and reduces the time needed for successful development. Combining the Central Nervous System drug development experience of Tikvah Therapeutics’ personnel with the novel drug discovery capability of Chakra Biotech forges a strong partnership for advancing new treatments for a number of serious psychiatric and neurological illnesses.” Daniel E. Casey, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University.