HUNTSVILLE, Ala — Serina Therapeutics, Inc., announced today that the company has entered into a definitive exclusive license agreement with The Scripps Research Institute for “click chemistry” – a facile method of attaching molecules together in a precise and quantitative manner. The nature of the agreement and the financial terms were not disclosed. “Click chemistry represents a major advance in how small molecules can be ‘clicked’ together,” said Mike Bentley, Ph.D. and chief scientific officer for Serina Therapeutics. “This license agreement allows us to attach small molecules to POZ polymers in a precise, quantitative and reproducible manner, and that is critical to our drug development efforts.”
Click chemistry was invented by Professor Barry Sharpless at The Scripps Research Institute. Sharpless shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for his groundbreaking work in unraveling chiral catalysts.
About Serina
Serina Therapeutics is a privately held pharmaceutical company located at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Ala. that develops novel polymer therapeutics based on its proprietary polyoxazoline (POZ) technology platforms. The founders and managers of Serina were formerly the key principals of Shearwater Polymers, a company that enabled 12 approved polyethylene glycol (PEG) products for various pharmaceutical partners. Besides developing its own pipeline of pharmaceutical products for Parkinson’s disease and cancer, Serina is also partnering with pharmaceutical companies to develop high value products addressing unmet clinical needs. For more information on Serina Therapeutics, please visit their website at serinatherapeutics.com.
About Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs about 3,000 people on its campuses in La Jolla, California and Jupiter, Florida where its renowned scientists—including three Nobel laureates—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards Ph.D. degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top 10 of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.
Contact Name:
Holly Ralston
Contact Phone:
256.508.8954
Organization Background:
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama, is the cornerstone of the Cummings Research Park Biotechnology Campus. The campus hosts a synergistic cluster of life sciences talent – science, education and business professionals – that promises collaborative innovation to turn knowledge and ideas into commercial products and services for improving human health and strengthening Alabama’s progressively diverse economy. The non-profit institute is housed in a state-of-the-art, 270,000 square-ft. facility strategically located in the nation’s second largest research park. HudsonAlpha has a three-fold mission of genomic research, economic development and educational outreach.
