GenoMed focuses on ACE inhibitors; seeks partners
Margie Manning
GenoMed Inc., a startup biotech company that focuses on identifying genes associated with diseases and finding drug treatments for them, expects to begin posting revenue by September through partnerships with doctors, clinics and a health management firm.
The partnerships would be based on new uses and doses for ACE inhibitors, drugs traditionally used to treat people with high blood pressure and heart disease.
Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's chairman and chief scientific officer, said his research has shown ACE inhibitors also can be used to prolong the onset of some types of diabetes, cancer and psychiatric disease -- a total of 40 common diseases associated with aging.
"ACE inhibition can be accurately described as the fountain of youth which Ponce de Leon pursued in Florida," Moskowitz wrote in a provisional patent for the new ACE inhibitor treatment methods.
GenoMed plans to collect fees from health-care providers and patients who sign up to use the patented treatment method, said Jerry White, president and chief executive. He's also negotiating with an outcomes management firm to track the health of the patients involved.
different industries.
He declined to identify the potential partners or how much revenue the partnerships could produce for GenoMed.
GenoMed posted no revenue and had a net loss of $368,869 in 2001, according to an April 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company was based in Florida until it purchased Moskowitz's Genomic Medicine LLC in November and agreed to invest $1 million in Genomic Medicine over the next year.
The quickest way for GenoMed to turn the profit corner is to find new uses for existing drugs, based on its genetics research, White said. That's where Moskowitz's work comes in.
Moskowitz, a kidney specialist, began working with ACE inhibitors when he was at Saint Louis University and the St. Louis Veterans Administration Medical Center, and found the drug delayed the progression of end-stage kidney disease.
Since then, Moskowitz said he's found the gene that's targeted by ACE inhibitors also is frequently found in patients with other diseases.
Dr. Arthur Labovitz, director of cardiology at Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, said that while there appeared to be a number of potential uses for ACE inhibitors, "In order to use ACE inhibitors or any new medication for that matter for new indications, you need to do clinical trials and demonstrate to the FDA and to your peers that it's effective in that manner."
Moskowitz said he plans to show doctors how effective his new treatment methods are through publication of a series of papers, beginning in August, in medical journals.
"We're hoping, instead of running afoul of the FDA, that we'll use the power of the government and its interest in enforcing patents to make sure we get paid license fees," he said.
mmanning@bizjournals.com |
