Revel Pharmaceuticals

We are addressing one of the hallmarks of aging, and are strategically positioned to develop therapeutics for multiple diseases of aging including osteoarthritis, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, skin aging, and complications of diabetes.

GLUCOSEPANE BIOLOGY IN RELATION TO AGING AND DISEASE

The long-lived collagen proteins that give structure to our arteries, skin, and other tissues are continuously exposed to blood sugar and other highly reactive molecules necessary for life. Occasionally, these sugar molecules will bind to collagen and form toxic crosslinks that alter the physical properties of tissues and cause inflammation. As a result, tissues slowly stiffen with aging, leading to rising systolic blood pressure, skin aging, kidney damage, and increased risk of stroke and other damage to the brain.

Perhaps the most important of these Advanced Glycation End-products (AGE) crosslinks is a molecule called glucosepane. Revel is developing therapeutics that can cleave glucosepane crosslinks thus maintaining and restoring the elasticity of blood vessels, skin, and other tissues, and preventing the terrible effects of their age-related stiffening.

OPENING A NEW CATEGORY IN THE SENS REPAIR APPROACH TO AGING

REPAIRING DAMAGE FROM AGING AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL

For the past 10 years, Yale Professors David Spiegel and Jason Crawford have been working on tools to enable the development of glucosepane-cleaving drugs. The Yale group’s first major milestone – the first complete synthesis of glucosepane – was highly recognized when published in Science. Since then progress has been rapid, with development of glucosepane binding antibodies and discovery of therapeutic enzyme candidates capable of breaking up glucosepane crosslinks. Revel will build upon this progress by advancing the first GlycoSENS therapeutics into the clinic.