advanceCOR - Cyclic Peptides

Graves’ disease is a severe thyroid disease. It causes the thyroid gland to become overactive: too much thyroid hormone is produced, which disrupts numerous organ functions. Many patients also have an eye disease in which the eyeballs protrude because the tissue behind the eyes grows. Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease caused by antibodies. They bind to the receptor that regulates the thyroid gland (TSH receptor), which leads to its pathological permanent activation.

The innovative cyclopeptides developed by advanceCOR could lead to new, effective therapies. These ring-shaped peptides with 10 to 25 amino acids are capable to neutralise the harmful antibodies.

Pre-clinical experiments have shown that cyclopeptides can be used to prevent thyroid disease and also eye disease, which is particularly difficult to treat. They were even able to significantly improve the disease that had already occurred.  The very encouraging findings have been published in several scientific articles in high-profile journals:

(Holthoff et al. Endocrinology 2017, 158:2376-2390 https://academic.oup.com/­endo/article/158/7/2376/­3093179;

Ungerer et al. Front Biosci (Landmark Edition) 2018, 23:2044-2052 https://www.bioscience.org/2018/­v23/af/4688/fulltext.htm;

Faßbender et al., Thyroid 2019; 29:258-267 https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/­10.1089/thy.2018.0326).

In further pre-clinical studies, cyclopeptides proved to be well tolerated, even at high doses. They did not trigger any immune reactions and showed a favourable distribution in the body (pharmacokinetics).

Drug authorities such as the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved the start of clinical trials in principle. The next step is to produce and bottle the drug according to the internationally valid rules of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). With its cyclopeptides, advanceCOR has thus achieved Investigational New Drug (IND) status from the US FDA.