ROCK selective inhibitor for Chronic Kidney Disease

Project Abstract Reaching epidemic proportions chronic kidney disease CKD remains a challenge both for the nephrologist as well as the federal exchequer as it is a major consumer of VA Medicare Medicaid dollars The current arsenal against CKD continues to be limited to medications geared toward normalizing hypertension and or blood glucose There is an urgent an unmet need for developing novel strategies that directly target renal scarring or fibrosis With recent evidence indicating that Rho associated coiled coil kinase ROCK signaling plays an integral role in inflammation and fibrosis there is intense effort in the biotech industry to develop safe and effective ROCK selective inhibitors Based on the available literature and highly compelling proof of concept data Angion Biomedica together with the Schrodinger Company NY and Dr Yangbo Feng a pioneer in ROCK related drug development seeks to advance an orally bioavailable and highly selective ROCK inhibitor for the treatment of CKD Unlike first generation mixed ROCK inhibitors it is anticipated that a selective ROCK inhibitor will not only prove efficacious in mitigating fibrosis but will also carry a lower risk of any side effects associated with chronic dosing Project Narrative The proposed application seeks to develop a safe targeted therapy for the treatment of chronic kidney disease which can be used either as standalone therapy or in conjunction with existing medications which include drugs that control blood glucose and or hypertension