About our project
Help Control Autoimmune Disease Now
Autoimmune diseases affect 20-50 million people in the US . The body’s own immune system attacks cells, tissue and organs. causing symptoms like chronic pain and inflammation. Conditions like Type I diabetes, Crohn’s Disease and multiple sclerosis (MS) are all autoimmune diseases with limited treatment options. Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC is taking on the challenge to create new, life changing therapeutic drugs.
We are a biotechnology company led by world renowned researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs developing a new drug to restore immune system balance and help patients everywhere to feel less pain.
Dr. Sandra J. Saouaf founded Atlantic Bio Sci after her 8 year old niece was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and a young adult friend was diagnosed with potential multiple sclerosis. Together with other scientists Dr. Saouaf had previously tested the Atlantic Bio Sci approach to treating autoimmune disease in a university laboratory and had great results. We need your help to advance our autoimmune disease research toward clinical development.
The Problem We Solve
Current treatments for autoimmune disease are inadequate and there is a growing need for safe and effective drugs.
According to recent studies, the number of people with autoimmune diseases are increasing for unknown reasons. Although each autoimmune disease is unique in the part of the body that is affected, the disease mechanism is the same.
For instance, in Type 1 diabetes, which is also called juvenile diabetes, immune cells attack the pancreas cells that produce insulin and destroy them. This leaves the patient without insulin and results in hyperglycemia – increased blood sugar.
In multiple sclerosis (MS) immune cells destroy nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and in rheumatoid arthritis immune cells destroy tissue in the joints.
No disease modifying drugs are FDA approved for Type 1 diabetes or for primary progressive MS. Once the autoimmune disease process starts, it cannot be stopped. The needs of people with Type 1 diabetes or primary progressive MS are not being met. For other autoimmune diseases that have FDA approved treatments the current marketed treatments are biologic drugs that are administered via injection. A painful solution for many.
Other autoimmune disease include: rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, inflammatory bowel diseases including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and others. Each disease lacks sufficient treatment options.
Our Solution
Our lead compound, ABS11, restores balance to the immune system and reduces the inflammatory response. Unlike other drugs on the market, ours is oral, a highly sought after treatment option by patients everywhere. ABS11, targets the regulatory immune cells, increasing their function, which in turn decreases the overactivity of the effector immune cells. ABS11 is being developed as a targeted, disease-modifying, oral drug not injected biologic drug.
Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC’s approach to treating autoimmune disease is based on decades of autoimmune disease research conducted by Dr. Mark I Greene’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and confirmed by scientists throughout the world. This laboratory has continually maintained a team of scientists elucidating autoimmune disease mechanisms that had been poorly understood.
Many studies focused on regulatory T cells that decrease inflammatory immune responses mediated by effector T cells both in mammals and in cell culture. Most recently the team has discovered important protein complexes within regulatory T cells that control their activity and function. The protein complex includes FOXP3 that is essential for regulatory T cell function. Proteins associated with FOXP3 control FOXP3’s stability and ability to control regulatory T cell activity.
By manipulating this protein complex through pharmaceutical intervention improved regulatory T cell activity has been obtained both in the laboratory and in animal models of autoimmune disease. Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC uses this approach to enhance regulatory T cell function through pharmaceutical intervention that increases the function and number of regulatory T cells and limits autoimmune disease in mammals.
In animal models of autoimmune disease, treatment with the ABS11 active ingredient decreases disease symptoms by over 90%. This work was initially supported by the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and later by the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) via grants to Mark I. Greene, MD, PhD.
By restoring balance to the immune system Atlantic Bio Sci’s treatment approach is expected to eliminate the increased risk of infection and cancer associated with many current biologic drugs.
We have a list of selected scientific publications out of a total 2,303 PubMed citations that support Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC’s approach of enhancing regulatory immune cell function to treat autoimmune disease. See the bottom of our campaign for selected articles.
How We Help Patients
Our goal is to help autoimmune patients who suffer from an unbalanced immune system. The opportunity to directly target diseases and reduce pain and inflammation could improve the lives of many people living with chronic conditions worldwide. The following are a few early findings:
• ABS11-AI treatment decreased incidence of collagen-induced arthritis by 250% in arthritis-induced animals
• ABS11-AI treatment decreased collagen-induced arthritis disease severity by 92%
• ABS11-AI treatment significantly protected joints from inflammation and destruction
How We Will Spend Your Contributions
Your contributions will fund further development of a promising potential drug to safely treat autoimmune disease in patients.
The goal amount will help fund development of Atlantic Bio Sci’s lead drug candidate in pre-clinical studies of autoimmune disease chosen from Type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis / juvenile arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, colitis or Sjögren’s syndrome.
If additional funds are raised, we can submit an FDA filing to begin clinical trials of ABS11 in patients with autoimmune disease.
Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC is approaching fundraising with a multifaceted approach and we have chosen to start our fundraising efforts by taking the funding need directly to the public, including patients with autoimmune diseases and their loved ones, who will ultimately benefit from the work of Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC. Medstartr is the perfect platform to achieve this approach.
*All donations will be used for drug development costs. No salaries are paid by Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC.
Who Are We? The Atlantic Bio Sci Team
The Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC management team is uniquely qualified to advance this treatment approach for autoimmune disease because we are experienced and passionate about autoimmune disease.
Sandra J. Saouaf, PhD
President & Founder Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC
LinkedIn
Dr. Saouaf, is an immunologist & entrepreneur who has over 20 years of professional scientific experience encompassing both the pharmaceutical industry and academia and resulting in her deep understanding of drug discovery, development, and regulatory processes critical to biotechnology.
Dr. Saouaf has studied and researched autoimmune disease mechanisms authoring numerous published, peer reviewed manuscripts on her research and has held research and supervisory positions in universities and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Prior to founding Atlantic Bio Sci, LLC Dr. Saouaf successfully founded and headed Science Answers, LLC, a scientific consulting company strategically advancing therapeutics, diagnostics, and devices.
Dr. Saouaf holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a BA in Biochemistry from Rutgers College.
Roxanne Spencer, PhD
Vice-President, Intellectual Property
& Head of Chemical Development
LinkedIn
Dr. Spencer is a registered US patent agent and organic chemist. Her background encompasses patent portfolio management, patent & exclusivity strategies, landscape reviews, due diligence, US government funded R&D patent & data rights, and IP rights under licensing & joint development agreements.
Dr. Spencer has established IP processes & policies for start-ups, chairing patent review committees, conducting patent audits, and managing outside counsel. She is the founder of RPS IP Management, LLC, offering IP management and strategy consulting services. Dr. Spencer holds a PhD in chemistry from Princeton University and a BS in chemistry from Eckerd College.
Advisory board members
Mark I. Greene, MD, PhD, FRCP John Eckman Professor of Medical Science, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
About Mark
How to Find Us
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References
B. Li, A. Samanta, X. Song, K. Furuuchi, K. Iacono, S. Kennedy, M. Katsumata, S. Saouaf and M. Greene. 2006. FOXP3 ensembles in T-cell regulation. Immunological Reviews; 212: 99-113..
B. Li, A. Samanta, X. Song, K. Iacono, K. Bembas, R. Tao, S. Basu, J. Riley, W. Hancock, Y. Shen, S. Saouaf and M. Greene. 2007. FOXP3 interactions with histone acetyltransferase and class II histone deacetylases are required for repression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A; 104; 4571-4576.
Samanta, A., Li, B., Song, X., Bembas, K., Zhang, G., Katsumata, M., Saouaf, S.J., Wang, Q.,
Hancock, W.W., Shen, Y., Greene, M.I., 2008. TGF-{beta} and IL-6 signals modulate chromatin binding and promoter occupancy by acetylated FOXP3. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 105, 14023–14027..
S. Saouaf, B. Li, G. Zhang, Y. Shen, N. Furuuchi, W. Hancock, M. Greene. 2009. Deacetylase Inhibition Increases Regulatory T Cell Function and Decreases Incidence and Severity of Collagen-induced Arthritis. Experimental and Molecular Pathology; 87; 99-104.
B. Li, S. Saouaf, A. Samanta, Y. Shen, W. Hancock and M. Greene. 2007. Biochemistry and therapeutic implications of mechanisms involved in FOXP3 activity in immune suppression. Curr Opin Immunol; 19; 583-588.
B. Li, A. Samanta, X. Song, K. Iacono, P. Brennan, T. Chatila, G. Roncador, A. Banham, J. Riley, Q. Wang, Y. Shen, S. Saouaf and M. Greene. 2007. FOXP3 is a homo-oligomer and a component of a supramolecular regulatory complex disabled in the human XLAAD/IPEX autoimmune disease. International Immunology 19(7): 825-835
Rosenblum, M. D., I. K. Gratz, J. S. Paw, and A. K. Abbas. “Treating Human Autoimmunity: Current Practice and Future Prospects.” Sci Transl Med 4 March 14, 2012 125sr1. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3003504.
Von Boehmer, H., and C. Daniel. “Therapeutic Opportunities for Manipulating T(Reg) Cells in Autoimmunity and Cancer.” Nat Rev Drug Discov 12 January 2013. 51–63. doi:10.1038/nrd3683
Cabrera, S. M., M. R. Rigby, and R. G. Mirmira. “Targeting Regulatory T Cells in the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.” Curr Mol Med 12 December 2012.: 1261–72
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