By 2020, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is expected to become the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.

“There is currently no cure for NASH or FDA-approved treatment, so we are developing drug strategies with unique modes of action,” said Webster Santos, professor of chemistry and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow of Drug Discovery in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.

Santos has developed novel mitochondrial uncouplers, which work to increase metabolism and decrease fat accumulation. Therapeutic applications for these technologies include obesity, NASH, and liver fibrosis.

Virginia Tech’s Link, License, Launch has recently facilitated a partnership between Santos and the biotech company Continuum Biosciences, a subsidiary of Life Biosciences to license and help deliver these drugs to market.

Life Biosciences is the first and largest biotech company addressing the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) in totality. The company seeks to increase healthspans for everyone, including companion animals, by addressing the systemic breakdown of the body, rather than as a series of isolated symptoms and conditions. Life Biosciences has established daughter companies around the world, led by a respected scientists, to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development.

To learn more, check out the whole article below.

https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/03/FLSI-Webster-Santos-LINK-Partnership-2020.html