Localized Modulation of Immune and Inflammatory
Responses for Treatment of Diabetes and Other Conditions

Home2022-01-28T21:17:24+00:00

MISSION AND PURPOSE

It has become increasingly apparent that inappropriate inflammatory and ineffective immune responses are at the center of many chronic disease states.  Direct systemic modulation of these critical pathways however can have severe negative consequences as these are central pathways affecting multiple organ systems.

Vicapsys is focused on leveraging natural pathways in a localized manner in order to achieve beneficial therapies without systemic negative consequences.  At the core of Vicapsys technology is a pleiotropic cytokine, CXCL12 that can be optimally formulated to achieve therapeutic outcomes in different indications.

Vicapsys is currently focused on curing Type 1 diabetes through long-term survival of transplanted islet cells using a formulation that inhibits development of the foreign body response and immune protection.   Vicapsys is also leveraging its core technology to address the consequences of diabetes (diabetic foot ulcers) and the consequences of localized fibrosis (abdominal adhesions).

History

Company History and Highlights

  • Platform technology exclusively licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital in 2013
  • Broad portfolio (8 patent families) of issued and pending applications covering multiple indications/applications of the platform
  • Platform is broadly divided into cellular and non-cellular product lines
  • Cellular applications initially targeted to treatment of Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 through pancreatic islet cell transplantation
  • Feasibility and long-term maintenance of transplanted human islet cells established in non human primate models
  • Other indications include treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and peritoneal adhesions

Management

Board of Directors

LEVERAGING THE BODY’S NATURAL MECHANISMS

Multiple activities of CXCL12 for different applications

Key CXCL12 Discoveries

  • Repulses Effector T cells and recruits Regulatory T cells to create an immune-privileged environment
  • Permits and promotes the survival of transplanted β-Islet cells
  • Promotes Anti-inflammatory and subsequently anti-fibrotic processes preventing post-surgical adhesions
  • Promotes angiogenesis and recruits endogenous stem cells for the promotion of wound healing

Schematic of the CXCL12 Cellular Actions

Two Product Lines

CXCL12 Protects Insulin Producing Cells

 

CXCL12-BASED  THERAPIES IN DEVELOPMENT

ViCapsyn™

DIABETES TREATMENT BY β ISLET STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION
Allogenic Human Stem Cells differentiated into β-cells to produce Insulin

  • Transplanted in a matrix of an alginate containing CXCL12
  • Rodent and NHP results indicate cell survival and glucose modulating function up to 6 months posttransplantation

ViBrin™

TO ACCELERATE HEALING OF DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS (DFUs)

  • CXCL12 complexed into a bioabsorbable polymer and applied directly to the DFU following debridement surgery
  • Inhibit inflammation, promote stem cell recruitment, angiogenesis to accelerate ulcer healing

ViBrin™

INHIBITING ADHESIONS POST-PERITONEAL SURGERY

  • CXCL12 formulated in a bioabsorbable, moldable polymer applied to the incision site
  • Inhibit inflammation and block formation of adhesions

THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS

ViCapsyn™ Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes Market Scope

  • The global treatment market for type 1 diabetes will expand from $6.6b in 2013 to an estimated $13.6b by 2023.
  • From 2000-2015 diabetes costs in the U.S. nearly doubled, from $12.05 to $23.35 million.
  • The number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980.
  • Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the world, and in 2012, was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths.

Cell Transplantation Program For Type 1 Diabetes

  • Funded by and developed in partnership with the JDRF
  • Diabetes Allotransplant Experiments in Non-Human Primates (NHP) are On-Going
  • Identifying the optimal β-stem cell partner for clinical studies

ViBrin™ Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers & Adhesions

Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) Market Scope

  • Between 1.0 – 3.5 million diabetic patients in the United States have a history of foot ulceration

Adhesions Market Scope

  • Demand for adhesion barriers surgeries poised to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% between 2016 and 2024
  • Estimated global market of greater than US$ $USD2.7 Billion by 2020
  • North America market is expected to be US$ 1.6 Billion during 2016 to 2026

Non-Cellular Program Addresses Two Conditions

TREATMENT OF DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS DFUs
are a significant financial burden to health care systems and significantly impact the Quality of Life indices for patients and their families

PREVENTION OF POST-PERITONEAL SURGERY ADHESIONS
An unmet medical need with more than 10 million patients at risk in the US and 25 million patients globally

NEWS & EVENTS

Publications

Preliminary Studies of the Impact of CXCL12 on the Foreign Body Reaction to Pancreatic Islets Microencapsulated in Alginate in Nonhuman Primates

We previously demonstrated that the incorporation of the chemokine CXCL12 into alginate microbeads supported long-term survival of microencapsulated auto-, allo-, and xenogeneic islets in murine models of diabetes without systemic immune suppression. The purpose of this study was to test whether CXCL12 could abrogate foreign body responses (FBRs)...

Long-term Survival of Transplanted Allogeneic Cells Engineered to Express a T Cell Chemorepellent

Alloantigen specific T cells have been shown to be required for allograft rejection. The chemokine, stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1) at high concentration, has been shown to act as a T-cell chemorepellent and abrogate T-cell infiltration into a site of antigen challenge in vivo via a mechanism termed fugetaxis or chemorepulsion. We postulated that this mechanism could be exploited therapeutically and that allogeneic cells engineered to express a chemorepellent protein would not be rejected...

Events

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