The firm Fibrotherapeutics Inc has no obvious digital footprint but a key player on the applicant team is Dr Hoffman (South Carolina). A description of the work ongoing in that lab may serve to give indication of what the Firm imight be about. ______________ The Hoffman lab is working on the identification of cells that overexpress collagen and other extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in fibrotic diseases and the molecular mechanisms that regulate ECM protein overexpression. The classical viewpoint was that the cells that overexpress ECM proteins were resident cells in the affected tissue. However, recent studies suggest that a major portion of these cells are bone marrow-derived cells that differentiate into collagen-producing cells while migrating into affected tissues. A variety of studies from our lab suggest that the differentiation of bone marrow-derived cells into collagen-producing cells, their production of collagen, and their migration into tissues are all promoted by decreased expression of the master signaling molecule caveolin-1. Therefore, caveolin-1 is an outstanding target for novel treatments for fibrotic diseases which is of the utmost importance to patients because there are currently no FDA-approved treatments for these devastating diseases. Work in this area has led Drs. Hoffman and Tourkina to patent a drug that targets caveolin-1 deficiency that has been licensed to a start-up company which is interested in developing the drug for use in human patients. In addition, Drs. Hoffman and Tourkina have identified existing drugs that could potentially be re-purposed for treating fibrotic diseases.
