UCC INNOVATION ANNOUNCE EPI-RESTORE TECHNOLOGY AS AN ATTRACTIVE PROSPECT FOR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
July 1st 2020: UCC Innovation today announced EPI-RESTORE Technology is a most attractive prospect for Commercial Development. EPI-RESTORE is a cutting edge technology developed by APC Microbiome Ireland. The lead inventors are Professor Fergus Shanahan, Professor Douwe van Sinderen, and Dr Mary O’Connell-Motherway from the Host-Microbe Dialogue research group in APC.
EPI-RESTORE – Ground Breaking Technology
The technology is part of an ongoing research programme and proof of concept has been demonstrated in preclinical models. The main application is in regenerative medicine and wound-healing. The innovation involves the use of a peptide that has been shown to promote wound healing and stimulate regeneration of the gut epithelium. It therefore has potential applications in Crohn’s disease or other conditions that damage the gut epithelium, for example oral mucositis, a common consequence of cancer chemo and radiotherapy treatment).
Relationship with UCC Innovation
UCC Innovation has worked very closely with the inventors from the start to both identify this innovation to file a patent on the technology supported by external patent agents. UCC Innovation Case Manager, Brendan Curran has been fielding enqueries from companies recently regarding the significant potential of this technology.
Brendan Curran, UCC Innovation Commercialisation Manager today commented
‘We are now at the stage were the further development and validation of this technology would significantly benefit from a commercial partner. We would welcome a licensing partner or research collaboration partner to work with us to bring this important technology closer to a commercial reality.’’
EPI-RESTORE, lead inventor Professor Fergus Shanahan also commented;
“The combination of an obvious clinical indication for which there is an unmet therapeutic need and a strategy that is likely to have a high degree of safety, renders EPI-RESTORE an attractive prospect for commercial development. Firstly, because the technology is a proliferative signalling molecule for the gut epithelium, it meets a clinically unmet need for promoting healing in several clinical situations, such as drug-induced or chemotherapy-induced ulceration or gut epithelial injury, and/or promotion of maturation of the epithelial barrier function in pre-term babies. We have published strong circumstantial and experimental evidence for the healing influence of EPI-RESTORE (o.e. TadE-bearing bifidobacteria) in mice and in humans.
Secondly, EPI-RESTORE has a strong likelihood of being remarkably safe because it is a naturally occurring constituent of bifidobacteria which are amongst the earliest colonizers of the human newborn infant. Bifidobacteria are food-grade bacteria that are highly desirable in newborn infants and generally regarded as safe (GRAS) for administration from a regulatory perspective.“
For more information please contact Brendan Curran tel:+353 21 4901754 email bcurran@ucc.ie
For Press queries please contact UCC Innovation Communications Manager Tara O’Leary at tara.oleary@ucc.ie or call mobile 0858077849.
