Berlin Cures' Steering Committee is Assembled to Facilitate the Design and Implementation of Phase 2 Study of BC 007

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Dec 06, 2018, 02:00 ET

ZUG, Switzerland, Dec. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss drug developer Berlin Cures Holding AG today announced the establishment of a steering committee of renowned cardiologists focused on ensuring expert input during the design and implementation of the Phase 2 study of BC 007 for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy.

"By convening an international team of experts to provide guidance around the design and implementation of the Phase 2 study, we aim to demonstrate the potential of BC 007 in treating dilated cardiomyopathy," said Dr. Johannes Müller, chief scientist of Berlin Cures

Berlin Cures has recently demonstrated the safety and tolerability profile of BC 007 by successfully completing the Phase 1 study. With the formation of the steering committee the company is now looking forward to the design and initiation of the Phase 2 Study.

Marko Bagaric, CEO of Berlin Cures Holding AG commented, "our steering committee members will provide invaluable insight as we develop BC 007 to address the tremendous need for novel, safe and effective treatment options for the millions of people living with this condition."

Steering Committee Members (listed alphabetically):

Prof. Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, Division of Medicine, University of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, U.S.
Prof. Hans-Dirk Düngen, MD, PhD, Division of Cardiology, Charité University, Berlin, Germany.
Prof. Stephan Felix, MD, PhD, University of Medicine, Greifswald, Germany.
Prof. John McMurray, MD, University of Glasgow, Great Britain.
Prof. Burkert Pieske, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Charité University Medicine and German Heart Center Berlin, Germany.
Prof. Adriaan Voors, MD, PhD, University Medical Center of Groningen, The Netherlands.

About autoantibodies against G-protein coupled receptors

Various causes are known for the development of dilated cardiomyopathy, where the heart's main pumping chamber is enlarged and weakened. One of these causes are functional pathogenic autoantibodies, which bind to the beta-1 adrenoceptor and interfere with the regulation of the heart's beat rate and contraction strength, leading to a continuous overstimulation of the heart and heart failure in the long run. Berlin Cures has developed BC 007, a compound capable of eliminating the pathogenic autoantibodies targeting the beta-1 adrenoceptor. Additionally, BC 007 can also neutralize other autoantibodies belonging to the same large family of cell-surface receptors, known as G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), which can induce dilated cardiomyopathy and various diseases such as pulmonary hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, glaucoma, etc. To facilitate the identification of such autoantibodies, Berlin Cures has standardized a test procedure which allows to reliably detect autoantibodies in the sera of patients, replacing an available yet complex and unvalidated diagnostic test procedure.

About BC 007

BC 007 is a DNA-based aptamer compound that binds to and eliminates functional pathogenic autoantibodies directed against the beta-1 adrenoceptor, a receptor belonging to the large family of cell surface receptors known as G-protein coupled receptors that regulate the heart's beat rate and contraction strength. Heart cells are harmed by autoantibodies that chronically bind to these receptors in a process that has been found to lead to heart cell death and organ failure in about 80 percent of middle European patients with dilated cardiomyopathy waiting for heart transplantation.

About Berlin Cures

Berlin Cures Holding AG, a privately-held company founded in 2014 and based in Zug, Switzerland, is establishing a new generation of treatments based on research of autoimmune diseases conducted at the renowned Charité Berlin and at the Max-Delbrueck-Center in Berlin for over a quarter of a century. The focus is to develop treatments for diseases with autoimmune pathology in which functional autoantibodies directed against G-protein-coupled receptors of different types play a significant role.

With over 1000 different sub-types, the family of G-protein-receptors constitutes the largest protein super-family with the physiological ability to sense molecules outside the cell. Berlin Cures holds the IP for a platform of aptamers that bind to and neutralize these functional autoantibodies, which play an important role in the pathophysiology of several autoimmune-diseases.

Recent studies involving heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, pre-eclampsia and a significant number of other diseases have shown that these functional autoantibodies play a highly underestimated role in disease development and sustenance. Neutralizing these autoantibodies can lead to substantial improvements in treatment.

For more information, http://www.berlincures.ch.

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SOURCE Berlin Cures