Makai Biotechnology, a firm set up to develop cardiovascular drugs aimed at preventing heart failure, has spun out from the University of Hawaii.
The new company will be licensing technology developed at the institution’s John A. Burns School of Medicine by assistant professor Alexander Stokes, who co-founded the company along with David Watumull, CEO of life sciences firm Cardax, who will act as the company’s senior advisor.
The new therapy looks to circumnavigate one of the most common symptoms of heart disease where the muscles stiffen, leading to failure. Stokes said Makai’s therapies offer a way of “protecting the heart with a completely new therapeutic approach. This new therapy will allow the heart to compensate for the extra work it needs to perform, without losing function and failing.”
The company, which was developed along with University of Hawaii’s Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development, is now actively seeking to develop alliances with major pharmaceutical firms to partner with the firm through development and clinical trials.
