VIRTICI LLC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to develop a novel peptid
VIRTICI LLC — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.
- Amount
- $224,700
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Solicitation
- PA13-234
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- WA
- Period
- —
Description
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to develop a novel peptide therapeutic, GLP-1-5, for the treatment of obesity. Today, one-third of adults in the United States (US) are obese, with an estimated annual healthcare burden of approximately 150 billion. By 2030, it is projected that over 50% of adults in the US will be obese with a yearly healthcare burden expected to exceed 860 billion, which will account for approximately 18% of the total US health-care costs. GLP-1 is a glucoincretin hormone that augments glucose-dependent insulin secretion. We discovered that the administration of GLP-1(9-36)amide, the major form of GLP-1 present in the circulation, leads to the formation of two peptides; a nonapeptide, GLP-1(28-36)amide (referred to as GLP-1-9) and a pentapeptide, GLP-1(32- 36)amide (referred to as GLP-1-5) in mouse plasma within 5 minutes. Both of these peptides are the product of GLP-1 cleavage by neprilysin, and both appear to act by a different mechanism than existin