ILS, Wistar announce collaboration

January 30th 2008, Hyderabad, India: Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), a Hyderabad-based discovery research institute, and The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, USA, announced a collaboration agreement to discover small molecule drug candidates on a novel target for Obesity and Diabetes.

ILS & Wistar will work together for discovery and development of compounds targeting proteins known as Sirtuins (known to address problems associated with aging, diabetes & CV.).

Sirtuins have gained considerable attention for their impact on human physiology and it promises to provide novel therapies to alleviate age-associated changes, such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and possibly extend healthy human lifespan.

Wistar will provide ILS with information about the chemical structure of sirtuin modulators (activators and inhibitors) that have been identified through their in-house research. ILS will carry out medicinal chemistry to prepare analogues of these modulators which will be provided to Wistar for biological testing. The most potent modulators / analogues will be subjected to structural biology studies at Wistar using X-ray crystallography leading to highly selective chemical structures. These structures will be shared with ILS for the structure-based design of highly selective lead compound that will be prepared at ILS (through medicinal chemistry approaches) and tested for sirtuin activity at Wistar. The lead compound will be optimized and taken to preclinical development jointly by ILS and Wistar.

Talking at the 1st Annual Day Celebration of ILS wherein a Symposium on Chemical Biology was also organized, Dr Anji Reddy, Founder Chairman, Dr Reddy's said "The Institute of Life Sciences is arguably the first Public Private Partnership in Science in the country. Objective of ILS is to provide an environment conducive to development of science and to seek solutions to human health problems by integrating areas of Life sciences and Chemistry. I am happy to note that the institute is focusing on finding solutions to diseases of the developing nations such as Malaria and Tuberculosis as well."

Prominent speakers at the symposium included Prof. Samir K Brahmachari, Director General of CSIR and Dr Rashmi H Barbhaiya of Adnivus amongst many others.

About ILS

The Institute of Life Sciences is a not-for-profit organization in Hyderabad, India formed through the partnership of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Dr. Reddy's Research Foundation, Andhra Pradesh State Government and University of Hyderabad. The institute operates as an autonomous body and pursues research in relevant areas of chemical and biological sciences in order to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in chosen diseases and translates this understanding into approaches for discovering novel therapies. ILS has the state-of-the-art research center within the campus of University of Hyderabad. Please visit www.ilsresearch.org for more details.