Novoron Bioscience, Inc. is a biotechnology company structured around development of pharmaceutical therapies for nerve regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS) -- a primary focus being Protein Therapies. Currently resident in JLabs San Diego., Novorons scientific foundation is the discovery of a novel receptor for the components of myelin that inhibit regeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) after injury (1). This research has led to a novel approach to nerve regeneration that is applicable to a number of CNS disorders and diseases, including spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. Anchored in IP exclusively licensed from the University of California, San Diego. Novoron is developing a therapy that blocks the critical signaling element responsible for regenerative failure of neurons in animal models of SCI. The failure of brain and spinal cord tissue to regenerate after trauma or disease is due, in large part, to inhibitory factors contained in the central nervous system (CNS). Overcoming the inhibition caused by these factors represents a high-value approach to restoring the natural regenerative capacity of these tissues, which would address a major unmet need in a variety of neuro-pathologies. Inhibitory molecules identified in the CNS vary widely in both composition and receptor interactions, making targeting of individual inhibitory factors impractical for therapeutic purposes. Despite the heterogeneity of these molecules, all known inhibitory factors appear to converge onto a shared cell signal, the hyperactivation of the small GTP-ase RhoA. While targeting of RhoA has shown utility for restoring the regenerative capacity of CNS tissue, the lack of specificity for such approaches leads to ubiquitous RhoA blockade, which results in a suppression of important endogenous functions that can cause toxicity. As such, a therapy capable of blocking the unwanted RhoA activity without disrupting beneficial, endogenous functions represents a means by which to maximize therapeutic benefits while minimizing unwanted toxic effects.
