VERAQUEL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services STTR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The market for peptide and protein products is 30 bi
VERAQUEL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — STTR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.
- Amount
- $225,000
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Program / Phase
- STTR · Phase I
- Solicitation
- PA13-235
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- MA
- Period
- —
Description
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The market for peptide and protein products is 30 billion annually and continues to grow. Automated solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) is a mainstay of modern medicinal research, and has been used on micromole up tometric ton industrial scale. Peptide drugs such as Exenatide, a GLP-1 analogue and a life-saver to many type-2 diabetes patients, and Fuzeon for HIV-AIDS would not exist but for SPPS. Error sequences resulting from incomplete synthetic steps limit the efficiency and throughput of SPPS, often requiring laborious and costly separations. Our technology offers a novel solution to the problem via a chemical proofreading that takes place in the background (between standard condensation steps) with no modificationto established methods. Within minutes, any unreacted sites are capped with inert fluorocarbon residues. The error sequences are thus reduced into insoluble constructs that can be removed in a facile manner at the end. Our preliminary studies have co