COMPANY OVERVIEW: StarWise Therapeutics LLC (STW) is a lead-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of neurological rare diseases like Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT), Rett Syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, colits, and rheumatoid arthritis. At the start, STW will focus entirely on CMT in order to rapidly move to clinical trials as this is considered a more tractable target. SWT’s technology platform is based on discoveries made by the founder and CEO, Dr. Kozikowski on the design and development of selective inhibitors of the Histone Deacetylase Isozyme 6 (HDAC6) along with key scientific efforts of the company’s senior biology collaborator Dr. Brett Langley formerly of the Burke Cornell Institute, and now working at the University of Waikato in NZ. STW’s objective is to build a profitable biopharmaceutical company by advancing the current lead compound into human clinical trials by the end of 2020. The development team comprised of Drs. Kozikowski and Langley brings more than 50 years of drug development experience to STW. Moreover, the company envisions applications of its technology in other areas such as Rett Syndrome and immunology, and Drs. Eubanks and Hancock are also key members of the StarWise scientific team. Lastly, brain penetrant variants of these HDAC6 inhibitors have been shown efficacy in tau animal models of Alzheimer's disease, and as such the company plans to expand its efforts to the treatment of various tauopathies in collaboration with Drs. David Morgan and Marcia Gordon of the University of South Florida. Lastly, key biochemical data and x-ray structural analysis are being provided by our collaborator and SAB member Dr. Cyril Bařinka from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Republic.

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Unique Offerings Available Through StarWise Therapeutics LLC

KB-3-32 = Elevnostat, an HDAC11-selective HDACi now available as a research tool….inquire to obtain a quote.

HDAC11 is the sole member of the class IV family of zinc-dependent HDACs, sharing sequence similarity to both Class I and II HDAC proteins, and is the most recently identified and, at 39-kilodaltons, the smallest known HDAC14. HDAC11 is highly conserved between species, and is relatively tissue-specific in that high expression is limited to kidney, heart, brain, skeletal muscle, and testis14. However, along with HDAC10, HDAC11 is one of the least studied HDAC family members6. Recently, HDAC11 was identified as a transcriptional repressor of Il10 expression in mouse and human antigen-presenting cells (APCs)15, and in a separate study, shown to associate with the survival of motor neurons (SMN) complex and regulate mRNA splicing8. Another HDAC, HDAC6, can physically associate with HDAC11 in both the cytoplasm and nuceli14. The association of HDAC6 and HDAC11 in APCs promotes Il10 expression16. HDAC6 and HDAC11 also interact at the vitamin D receptor to regulate expression of MYC17, providing a second example of gene regulation by dynamic complexes that contain both HDAC6 and HDAC11 enzymes. We now report genetic and pharmacologic data (using JB-3-22 or Elevenostat) as to the role of HDAC11 in Foxp3+ Tregs, and show that HDAC11 targeting can enhance Treg function and induce Treg-dependent suppression of allograft rejection. This article is in press.

A number of other HDAC6 inhibitors will also be available for purchase. Stay tuned to see these listings.

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Inhibition Assays for all 11 HDACs Using Recombinant Proteins are also available.