LUCA Science announces joint research and development with four universities on new mitochondrial therapy for COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) supported by AMED Grants
LUCA Science (Tokyo, Japan), a biotechnology company pioneering a novel class of mitochondrial therapeutics, applied to the 5th call of “Medical Research and Development Innovation Infrastructure Creation Project (CiCLE)” proposals supported by Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). LUCA Science have been selected for the proposal on “Research and development of therapy for COVID-19 ARDS using a mitochondrial drug”. A Contract agreement was signed with AMED to started research and development of mitochondrial drug treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by COVID-19 infection through industry-academia-government collaborations.
AMED Release：https://www.amed.go.jp/koubo/07/01/0701C_00007.html
■（ARDS）Acute respiratory distress syndrome（ARDS）due to COVID-19
COVID-19 infections continue to spread worldwide. Vaccines and antiviral drugs are considered to be the mainstay of prevention and treatment, however, effective treatments for ARDS which can progress rapidly and life-threatening, are extremely limited. The mitochondrial biopharmaceutical agent developed by LUCA Science is expected to have therapeutic effects on ARDS by promoting repair and regeneration of lung tissue and improvement of immune functions.
Under AMED's "Creation of Innovative Core for Medical Research and Development (CiCLE)" project, LUCA Science will collaborate with four Japanese universities (Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University; Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation, Tokyo University of Science; Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University; and Graduate School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology) to develop therapeutic agents that can be expended not only in Japan but also globally.
About LUCA Science
LUCA Science is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of mitochondrial therapy to restore cellular bioenergetics in dysfunctional or damaged tissues and organs. Mitochondria are the power plants in our cells that produce energy for our bodies. LUCA Science will use its platform technology to manufacture, store and deliver innovative mitochondrial drugs to research and development of therapeutics for unmet medical needs in a wide of disease for which there have been no effective treatments.