Kailo Pharma Ltd
Kailo Pharma is an early-stage pre-clinical biotech company focusing on the development of Serentide, a therapeutic peptide for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
PTSD, is a severe mental health condition that can be triggered by learning, experiencing, or witnessing a life-threatening or deeply distressing traumatic event and affecting millions worldwide.
Current treatment requires a combination of specialized psychotherapy and medication. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Sertraline (Zoloft) and Paroxetine (Paxil) are the only FDA-approved medications for treating PTSD. These approved medications are used to relief part of the secondary symptoms of PTSD, but do not target the mechanism underlying the core Patho-neurobiology of PTSD.
Indeed, despite the available therapies, significant gaps in patient care remain for most of the patients. Up to 50% of patients do not respond sufficiently to standard SSRIs, and intensive exposure therapies have high dropout rates due to the distress of re-living trauma.
Serentide, a first-in-class disease-modifying peptide offers a breakthrough therapeutic approach for specifically treating the underlying patho-neurology of PTSD. Not only that but furthermore will enable patients with a high compliance treatment; to confront, process and manage the traumatic event, in combination with psychotherapy, without experiencing overwhelming behavioral symptoms and dysfunctions.
Kailo Pharma is committed to advancing Serentide development and providing new therapeutic hope to PTSD patients worldwide.
THE PROBLEM
The excessive intensity of the traumatic fear memory is found to underline the main Patho-neurological root cause of PTSD and its related symptoms. At the physiological level PTSD is characterized by:
- A hyperactive amygdala; an exaggerated threat response.
- A hypoactive medial prefrontal cortex; a failure to inhibit or regulate the amygdala’s fear signals.
- Reduced hippocampal activation; which impairs the brain’s ability to properly contextualize and process memories, leaving the trauma feeling like a present-day threat.
THE TECHNOLOGY & SOLUTION
Our research team discovered a physiological mechanism that amplifies a fear memory and intensifies it to traumatic and pathological levels. The amplification mechanism is physiologically different from mechanisms underlying normal fear, learning and memory processes and therefore offers a unique pathway for a selective targeting of the traumatic fear memory only.
The fear memory amplification mechanism is mediated by CaMKII phosphorylating Ser831 on the synaptic channel of AMPA receptor, resulting in a twofold increase in the conductance of all the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic channels in and only in the neurons that compose the traumatic fear memory.
Administering Serentide, a peptide that inhibits the CaMKII-mediated phosphorylation of Ser831, thereby reducing the excessive intensity of the traumatic fear memory, is the precise intervention at the core of our new therapeutic approach.
THE MARKET
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the global prevalence of PTSD is approximately 3.9% of the world’s population (based on a global population of 8 billion), this translates to 300-350 million people who have experienced PTSD at some stage during their lives, with roughly 13 million individuals worldwide developing the disorder each year.
THE TEAM
Dr. Osnat Ohne,
CEO
An experienced biopharmaceutical executive with a track record of 25 years in leading drug development processes, leading and scaling biotech companies.
Dr Ohne Holds a PhD in Immunology from Tel-Aviv University.
Dr Iris Reuveni,
CSO (computational Neuroscience) and Founder
A neurobiologist at the University of Haifa with a strong background in mathematics, computer science, and computational neuroscience. These abilities enabled her to develop the theory of memory amplification and design experiments that support this theory. Motivated by a desire to help individuals with PTSD, she established the foundational concept for a novel peptide therapy aimed at disrupting memory amplification mechanisms.
Prof. Edi Barkai,
CSO (Neurobiology) and Founder
A Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Haifa, specializing in the biological foundations of high-skill learning. He holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biology from Ben-Gurion University and completed his postdoc at Harvard, integrating neurophysiology and computational modeling to study associative memory.
Prof. Chaim Gilon,
CTO (Organic chemistry) and Founder
Prof. Chaim Gilon is an Active Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a pioneer in peptide drug development and signal transduction therapy. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and completed postdoctoral research in peptide and brain chemistry at UC San Diego and the Salk Institute with Nobel Laureate Prof. Roger Guillemin.
CONTACT:
Osnat Ohne
+972-54-3133705