Biosortia Pharmaceuticals Creating Drug Discovery Opportunity with Previously Unstudied Microorganisms.

Dublin, Ohio (February 26, 2013) – The Ohio State University has signed an agreement with Biosortia Pharmaceuticals of Dublin, Ohio to discover new biologically active natural products with potential anti-cancer activity. Potential candidate compounds discovered during the Biosortia-sponsored research project will primarily be tested against human colon cancer assays. The ultimate goal is to obtain lead compounds that can be licensed to and developed by pharmaceutical companies through Biosortia’s pharmaceutical industry relationships.

Researchers with Ohio State’s College of Pharmacy under the direction of the principal investigator, Douglas Kinghorn, Ph.D., D.Sc. will utilize pre-fractionated mixtures of microorganism consortia developed and provided by Biosortia as the source of novel compounds. The research interests of Dr. Kinghorn are on the isolation, characterization, and biological evaluation of natural products. Dr. Kinghorn’s work has focused on natural product compounds with potential anti-microbial, cancer chemotherapeutic, cancer chemopreventive, sweet-tasting, and bitterness-blocking effects. The initial agreement was finalized by a collaboration between Ohio State’s Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer Office (TCO) and the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

Dr. Kinghorn is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Natural Products. Working with Dr. Kinghorn will be Dr. Hee-byung Chai, who has many years of relevant experience in dealing with a cell-based biological screening of natural products, including the evaluation of algal extracts and obtained pure compounds. “The search for new lead compounds from natural sources should pay big dividends,” says Dr. Kinghorn.

Compounds from nature (Natural products) have played an integral beneficial role in cancer chemotherapy for over 50 years, both in terms of providing established drugs and new lead compounds for synthetic optimization. Compounds derived from terrestrial microbes and higher plants are now used as standard agents in cancer chemotherapy and over 50% of cancer drugs came from natural products (Newman and Cragg, et al). In addition, a number of new natural product-derived agents from organisms of terrestrial and marine origin have been approved recently to treat various forms of cancer.

Dr. Guy Carter, Chief Science Officer of Biosortia Pharmaceuticals will be working closely with the team. Dr. Carter has the utmost respect and confidence in Dr. Kinghorn and his team. “Dr. Kinghorn is a world leader in the research of natural products for drug discovery. The cooperation between the organizations creates a productive first step in building a long-term relationship” says Dr. Carter.

###

About Biosortia Pharmaceuticals – Biosortia Pharmaceuticals Biosortia Pharmaceuticals is a division of Algaeventure Systems (AVS). Biosortia has a proven and unique ability to obtain unculturable aquatic microorganism consortia from the natural environment in unprecedented quantities that allows its research team to perform a direct study of vast quantities of new natural products. Biosortia is actively engaging drug research and development organizations to explore the vast opportunity of unculturable microorganisms for potential therapeutic agents, and other novel compounds of value in biotechnology fields

About The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy – Established in 1885, the College of Pharmacy is one of the oldest colleges at The Ohio State University. The overall mission is to advance pharmaceutical care for the people of Ohio and the global community through our teaching, research, and service. The college offers high-quality programs at the undergraduate, graduate professional, graduate research, and postdoctoral levels. For more information visit pharmacy.osu.edu or on Facebook at facebook.com/osu.Pharmacy

If you’d like more information about the announcement or the company or to schedule an interview with Kurt Dieck, please call David Coho at 614-325-9804 or e-mail David at dc***@*******ia.com or call Emily A. Keller of The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy at 614-292-5887 or ke*******@*su.edu