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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hancock Firm Mitokine Bioscience Receives Federal Funding: A Natural Step
HANCOCK, ME - Mitokine Bioscience announced today the receipt of a Small Business Innovative Research Award from the National Institutes of Health. The $277,000 grant will be used by the company to test an essential new treatment for diabetes, utilizing a natural model. Led by Dr. Brooke Ligon, Mitokine’s CEO and Founder, the Hancock biotech firm will partner with the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University to conduct a study with companion dogs diagnosed with diabetes. Test subjects will be treated in their homes, a unique method that will allow a dozen dogs to be tested in realistic circumstances over a 12-month period. Results will be compiled at Mitokine and used to develop a veterinary pharmaceutical product.
Mitokine’s proposed technology is a new treatment for diabetes using a naturally occurring amino acid. While known to be an important chemical messenger in the brain, this amino acid is also a major product of the cells that make insulin, which are depleted starting in the early stages of Type I diabetes. “The current core of diabetes treatment is restoring one of the main products of the beta cell, insulin” said Dr. Ligon. “We believe that to delay the onset and in some cases overcome the pathology of diabetes, the other major product of beta cells needs to be restored as well.” Mitokine has evidence supporting this hypothesis in small animals; the next step is testing large animals – thus the study of canine diabetics.
Collaboration with Purdue University was also a natural next step. Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) is a very experienced partner in research with companion animals and a leader in treating canine diabetes. Its Assistant Department Head of Clinical Sciences, Dr. Catharine Scott-Moncrieff, stated Mitokine’s project should answer a number of compelling questions concerning the optimal way to treat diabetes mellitus. The Purdue SVM will monitor participants glucose management, conduct scheduled tests of each subject’s response to the study regimen, and insure the scientific integrity of the study.
Building up to the current round of federal funding has also involved a crucial web of support in Maine. As a startup small business in the biotechnology sector, Mitokine has taken advantage of the extensive network of assistance programs in the state. Essential seed grant funding was awarded to Mitokine for pilot testing of its diabetes treatment by the Maine Technology Institute (MTI). In three seed grant cycles beginning in 2006, MTI allowed Mitokine to establish its research principle and laid the groundwork for federal funding. A fourth cycle of funding from MTI will test a therapy for a possible human treatment downstream. In addition, Linda Carman of Mount Desert Island, whose dog Tilly was a participant in Mitokine’s pilot study, assisted the firm in
obtaining funding for a human diabetes study from the Kyle Family Foundation of Ohio – a collaboration which will include the University of Iowa Medical Center.
Strategic advice, training and consultation were also available to Mitokine. The Maine Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in Bangor provided pivotal advice to aid Mitokine in making strategic decisions and envisioning its development path. Ann McAlhany, Certified Business Counselor at SBTDC, has directed Mitokine to resources, guided its deliberations over business planning, and helped move Mitokine to the next level of product development.
Dr. Ligon and her operations manager, Steve Sjoberg, also enrolled in the Incubator Without Walls program of the Down East Business Alliance in Ellsworth. This seminar setting, hosted by the Washington/Hancock Community Agency and shared with ten other entrepreneurs over twelve weeks, was an effective crucible to sharpen business planning, marketing, and practical management principles. Led by Jeff Ackerman, Small Business Coordinator, course participants were immersed in each others’ dreams and challenges – and solutions to real issues for entrepreneurs.
Finally, consultation was provided to Mitokine in strategizing a plan for patent protection of its products through the Maine Patent Program at the University of Southern Maine. This extraordinary service offered Mitokine the experience of Leonard Agneta, Director of the program, and his staff. In personal discussions and review of existing patent applications, Attorney Agneta was an anchor of support in what is an essential area for any new technology company.
About Mitokine Bioscience
Mitokine Bioscience, LLC was incorporated in the summer of 2006 and established its operations in the downeast town of Hancock, Maine, to develop a critical new treatment for diabetes. Mitokine’s business and market approach is to find and make available to the medical community new solutions to the treatment of chronic disease that build upon natural processes. While its current project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, establishes proof of efficacy, Mitokine intends to follow this effort with a larger canine study to meet the requirements for FDA approval of a veterinary product and develop a similar treatment for human diabetes.
Contact Information:
Mitokine Bioscience, LLC
Dr. Brooke Ligon, CEO & Founder
PO Box 275
Hancock, Maine 04640-0275
Telephone: 207-422-6838
Email:
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