With strong ties to the Cardiovascular Research Institute, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, Vasade Biosciences, Inc., is a biotechnology company engaged in the pre-clinical discovery and development of cardioprotective and vascular protective molecules, drugs, and devices for the prevention, treatment, and management of cardiovascular disease. Vasade is investigating inhibitors of type 5 adenylyl cyclase (AC5) that hold promise as alternatives to ß-blockers as cardioprotective agents during heart failure progression. Following targeted screening of small molecule compounds, Vasade and collaborators identified selective type 5 adenylyl cyclase inhibitors and preliminary results demonstrate a protective response in an ishemia / reperfusion mouse model of heart disease. Vasade is also actively developing inhibitors of Mammalian Sterile 20-Like Kinase 1 (Mst1) as therapeutic treatment for reducing apoptosis and cardiac deterioration associated with ischimic heart disease. The third approach Vasade is taking is the development of Mammalian Sterile 20-Like Kinase 1 (Mst1) eluting stents. The stents are proposed as a therapeutic means of inhibiting smooth muscle proliferation and restenosis that may follow angioplasty. Vasade is investigating the efficiency, toxicity, and efficacy of stents eluting a Mst1 gene targeted for expression in smooth muscle cells. Finally, Vasade is investigating increased levels of Heat Shock H11 Kinase (H11K) as a highly effective measure to protect the heart from ischemic damage. Vasade is developing gene therapy vectors for the overexpression of H11K in heart and has begun to identify small molecule activators of H11K and the H11K signalling pathway.
