The spinout will develop research on drugs that could one day shorten the lifespan of cancerous cells.
Tech Launch Arizona, the tech transfer office of University of Arizona (UA), has transferred a licence for a drug candidate that destroys cancer cells to its US-based spinout Reglagene.
Reglagene will seek to tackle gene processes by which DNA sequences begin to deteriorate during diseases such as cancer.
By developing a faster route to deactivating the DNA structures responsible, Reglagene hopes it might pave the way for drugs to shorten the lifespan of cancerous cells.
Arizona Centre for Innovation, the university’s technology incubator, is helping Reglagene build out its business strategy and commercialisation capabilities.
Reglagene is based on research by Laurence Hurley, professor of pharmacology and toxicology in UA’s College of Pharmacy, and Vijay Gokhale, senior research scientist of medicinal and computational chemistry in Bio5 Institute, UA’s biotech research institute.
Hurley, who has been named chief scientific officer of Reglagene, previously helped launch US-based biopharmaceutical developers Cyternex, Montigen and Tetragene.
He said: “Our laboratory has developed the underlying technology for a number of drugs that have reached phase 1/2 clinical trials. This is by far the most exciting technology we have a developed during our 40 years of research.”
