New York; Chapel Hill, NC; Pittsburgh, June 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mission Cure Holdings, LLC, Path BioAnalytics, Inc. and Ariel Precision Medicine, Inc. jointly announced the creation of a unique research alliance to develop innovative treatments for patients with pancreatitis, a painful disease affecting more than a million people globally and for which there is currently no treatment.
This patient-focused research alliance, facilitated by Mission Cure Holdings (“MCH”), will leverage the Path BioAnalytics (“PBA”) proprietary organoid and artificial intelligence platform using cells derived from pancreatitis patients and will be guided by genetic, lifestyle and environmental data known to cause or contribute to pancreatitis compiled by Ariel Precision Medicine (“Ariel”). MCH will provide funding and program management for the alliance.
Pancreatitis describes an inflammation of the pancreas that may cause symptoms including severe abdominal pain and nausea, leading to serious digestive problems, diabetes and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. The disease impacts people in different ways; and some patterns, known as “subtypes” or “subpopulations,” have been identified that may result from specific genetic mutations and environmental factors. The goal of this alliance is to develop therapeutics for these pancreatitis subpopulations.
“The diversity that we see in pancreatitis patients necessitates the development of treatments personalized to specific genetic profiles,” stated Jessica Gibson, chief executive officer and co-founder of Ariel. “To date, our technology has been employed by physicians to better understand the underlying causes of pancreatitis and drivers that impact disease progression. Our partnership with PBA and MCH allows us to contribute for the first time to the development of drugs optimized for specific subpopulations of pancreatitis patients. I am excited by the potential that this alliance might bring real solutions to patients with pancreatitis.”
“This collaboration offers a unique opportunity for the three organizations to work together on a common goal: finding safe and effective treatments for this painful disease,” stated John Mellnik, Ph.D., chief executive officer of PBA. “At PBA, we have developed an innovative organoid platform using primary cells to identify and evaluate effective drug treatments for targeted patient populations. We are excited to apply this technology to the alliance and look forward to working together to provide therapeutic options to the millions of individuals living with pancreatitis.”
“We launched MCH with the goal of accelerating the development of treatments for pancreatitis. From the outset, we saw a need for an organization that could provide more than just research funding,” said Linda Martin, MCH managing member. “Drug development is complex, requiring many types of expertise, plus a strong collaborative spirit amongst partners. We recognized this need, and realized we could help build these relationships and foster new collaborations. We hope that this alliance will encourage others to consider impact investing, and other innovative models, to spur the development of treatments for many other rare and untreatable diseases.”
About Ariel Precision Medicine
Ariel Precision Medicine is a digital health company that has developed the ADVANCE® precision medicine platform to support the ecosystem of clinicians, patients, pharmaceutical companies and payers working to minimize the impact of chronic disease. Initially targeting pancreatic disease, Ariel is rapidly expanding the platform’s capabilities to address the 80 million patients with chronic digestive diseases. Ariel’s clinical decision support tools integrate genetic and clinical data, systems biology, automation and artificial intelligence to determine the biological dysfunction driving a patient’s condition and link to evidence-based medicine and treatments tailored for each patient. Additional information can be found at www.arielmedicine.com.
About Path BioAnalytics
Path BioAnalytics is a precision medicine company dedicated to the advancement of next-generation treatments for diseases with high unmet need. PBA couples its 3D cell culture system with extensive in-house clinical datasets from a broad cross-section of individuals to provide an innovative platform for drug development for a range of diseases. PBA’s patient-centric, precision medicine approach allows the company to de-risk R&D decisions, improve the efficiency of clinical testing, and ultimately produce more effective medications for targeted patient populations. Additional information is available at www.pathbioanalytics.com.
About Mission Cure Holdings
Founded in January 2019, Mission Cure Holdings is the first impact investment company dedicated to investing in promising research and therapeutic development projects that will improve the lives of children and adults suffering from pancreatitis. Impact investing is the practice of making purposeful investments to achieve social benefits while generating financial returns, and precision medicine is an emerging impact investment opportunity. Launched with a ten-year commitment from a Dutch businessman with a personal interest in finding a cure for pancreatitis, MCH leverages private capital to build a portfolio of financially attractive investments to advance the needs of the pancreatitis community.
Disclaimer
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” concerning the development and commercialization of products developed by Ariel Precision Medicine, Path BioAnalytics or Mission Cure Holdings, the potential benefits and attributes of such product or platform technology, and expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Ariel, Path BioAnalytics and Mission Cure Holdings undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.