In collbaoration with Mass General,Heprotech Inc. develops liver-protective therapeutics for the treatment of acute liver diseases such as drug-induced liver injury. Drug hepatotoxicity is the most common cause of acute liver injury, a potentially fatal condition for which current therapies are often limited to supportive care and liver transplantation. It is also the most common reason that efficacious and potentially life- saving drugs are abandoned during development and never reach patients. Scientists at Heprotech recently discovered a novel role for hepatocyte gap junction intercellular communication in the propagation of drug-induced liver injury, and demonstrated that inhibition of this gap junction communication pathway limits liver injury and inflammation. Heprotech is actively searching for small molecule compounds that inhibit various stages of this communication pathway, and developing these inhibitors for clinical use in treating acute drug- induced liver injury. We now seeks funding to support the establishment of a global drug discovery program that will use multiple high throughput screening assays to identity a portfolio of small molecule gap junction inhibitors to serve as first-in-class hepatoprotectants
