Inflammation is a defense reaction caused by tissue damage, injury or bacteria/viral infections. The inflammatory response involves leukocyte accumulation at the site of injury/infection. Excessive accumulation of leukocyte can cause various diseases such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, septic shock, etc. Every year, there are about 26 million people affected by such kind of diseases in U.S. alone, with a direct healthcare cost of about 10 billion dollars ( 82.7billion RMB ). Inflammation response also results in over-production and deposition of collagen, which cause tissue fibrosis and affect normal organ functions. Fibrosis is a wide-spread disease that can occur in various organs. In the US, fibrosis is the leading cause of death ( ~45% of total ), doubling the number of deaths caused by cancer each year. Common fibrosis diseases include live cirrhosis and kidney fibrosis caused by inflammation in liver and kidney respectively, heart muscle fibrosis as a result of coronary heart diseases, and scar tissue resulted from skin injuries. In China, liver cirrhosis is one of the most common threats to health, which is usually caused by hepatitis or alcohol abuse. Recently, most of the deaths associated with SARS are resulted from pulmonary fibrosis in late-stage patients. However, treatment for fibrosis is rather limited, despite its prevalence and often death-causing threat to health.
The small molecule compound F351, developed by the Company as a non-steroid anti-inflammation drug, can block the key step in the process leading to fibrosis, significantly reduces the synthesis and the deposition of collagen in liver, kidney, lung, and skin tissues. Non-toxicity as shown in animal tests and in vitro experiments, as well as low future manufacturing costs, makes this compound a high potential oral drug candidate for broad indications including pulmonary fibrosis, liver cirrhosis and skin scar formation. |
