Canadian scientists given grant to advance ways of treating PSC
Conscience, a nonprofit, supports work into areas often overlooked by industry
Conscience, a Canadian nonprofit, has awarded CA$461,241 (nearly $320,000) to a research project aiming to provide preclinical data that could lead to new approaches in treating primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare disease affecting the liver.
The two-year grant comes through the inaugural round of Conscience’s Developing Medicines through Open Science (DMOS) program, which supports early research aiming to advance therapeutic discoveries in areas often overlooked by the pharmaceutical industry, including rare diseases.
“The DMOS program is underscored by our vision of a world where more drug therapies are developed, and these treatments are both accessible and affordable,” Anne Fortier, PhD, vice president of drug discovery at Conscience, said in an organization press release. “We believe collaboration is the solution and proudly support projects that undertake preclinical research to establish proof-of-concept for an open science approach towards treatments and cures for life-threatening or severely debilitating diseases in areas of market failure.”
3 awarded projects affiliated with group promoting open science, collaboration
This DMOS grant round was supported by the Canadian government through its Strategic Innovation Fund. All projects eligible for consideration need to involve at least one small- or medium-sized Canadian organization.
“Our government is proud to support Conscience’s expertise … to tackle rare diseases and improve access to care and treatments for Canadians,” said François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “This contribution will help develop drug discovery through open science, and I look forward to the results of these projects.”
PSC research is one of three projects awarded two-year funding in this round. The other two are focused on spinal bulbar muscular atrophy, a rare genetic neuromuscular condition (awarded CA$386,220), and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare pediatric brain tumor (awarded CA$1.6 million).
All three projects are affiliated with Agora Open Science Trust, a Canadian nonprofit that promotes scientific collaboration to accelerate the development of new and affordable medicines.
“With Conscience’s support, we can accelerate the development of potential treatments for diseases that have long been underfunded and underserved,” Peter Sampson, PhD, vice president of drug discovery and development at Agora, said in a separate press release.
PSC is characterized by chronic cholangitis, where there’s inflammation in the bile ducts that carry the digestive fluid bile from the liver to the intestines. Over time, the inflammation can cause damage and scarring (fibrosis) in the ducts to interrupt bile flow, a condition known as cholestasis, driving serious liver problems.
Currently, no available treatments for cholangitis can slow or stop the progression of PSC-related liver damage.
Project to test if suppressing a protein helps to prevent liver scarring
In the PSC project, Agora will work with scientists at the University of Toronto and its affiliated University Health Network. Sonya MacParland, PhD, a senior scientist in the network’s Ajmera Transplant Centre and an associate professor at the University of Toronto, will serve as principal investigator.
MacParland recently helped to lead a group of scientists, many in the Toronto health network, in developing a gene activity map of cells in the PSC liver, which enabled the identification of possible therapeutic targets for the disease. They included spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), a protein involved in immune cell activation that has been proposed as a therapeutic target in various liver conditions.
Researchers believe that suppressing SYK could help to dampen the activation of immune-mediated pathways that promote fibrosis in PSC. In the newly funded work, MacParland and others will test whether SYK suppressors are able to modulate fibrosis in liver samples from PSC patients compared with healthy liver tissue.
“We are grateful for how the Conscience grant is supporting [PSC] research,” said Mary Vyas, president of PSC Partners Seeking a Cure Canada, a patient advocacy and support group. “We envision a world where a PSC diagnosis comes with a safe and effective treatment, and Conscience’s Developing Medicines through Open Science program takes us one step closer.”
Conscience reports having a total of CA$5 million in the DMOS program to allocate in funding and partnership opportunities in the inaugural round. It added that this round is now closed to applications, but the program may accept new proposals on a rolling basis.
About the Author
