SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAP), a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, today announced that Dr. Rebecca Taub, Senior Vice President Research & Development will present "Liver Directed Beta Agonist for Targeting Cardiometabolic Disease", and will discuss the Company's cardio-metabolic product portfolio, including VIA's inhibitor of 5 Lipoxygenase, its THR Beta Agonist, and its DGAT1 development programs, at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute Seventh International Discovery on Target 2009 program, on November 3, 2009 in Boston, MA.
In addition, Dr. Taub will participate in other forums on Wednesday November 4, 2009, including a panel on the "Clinical Landscape for New Diabetes Drug Candidates".
About THR beta agonist
VIA-3196 is an orally administered, small-molecule beta-selective thyroid hormone receptor agonist designed to specifically target receptors in the liver involved in metabolism and cholesterol regulation, and avoid side effects associated with thyroid hormone receptor activation outside the liver. Roche has completed preclinical studies of the THR beta agonist. These studies demonstrated a rapid reduction of non-HDL cholesterol and the drug was shown to be synergistic with statins in animal studies. VIA will investigate the possibility of using the THR beta agonist in combination with statins for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. In addition, in animal studies, insulin sensitization and glucose lowering were observed making this compound a possible treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes in combination with other diabetes medications.
About DGAT1
DGAT1 (diacylglycerol acyl transferase-1) is an enzyme that catalyzes triglyceride synthesis and fat storage. Triglycerides are the principal component of fat, which is the major repository for storage of metabolic energy in the body. Overweight and obese individuals have significantly greater triglyceride levels, making them more prone to diabetes and its associated metabolic complications. DGAT1 inhibitors are believed to be an innovative class of compounds that modify lipid metabolism. In studies of obese animals, DGAT1 inhibitors have been shown to induce weight loss and improve insulin sensitization, glucose tolerance and lipid levels. These observations suggest DGAT1 inhibitors may have the potential to treat obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia. VIA intends to identify potential clinical candidates from the compounds in this program and determine which may be moved into further preclinical development.
About VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. VIA's lead candidate, VIA-2291, targets a significant unmet medical need by reducing inflammation in plaque, which is an underlying cause of atherosclerosis and its complications, including heart attack and stroke. In addition, VIA's pipeline of drug candidates includes other compounds to address other underlying causes of cardiovascular disease: high cholesterol, diabetes and inflammation. For more information, visit: http://www.viapharmaceuticals.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or to VIA's future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause VIA's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond VIA's control and which could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.
Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to:
SOURCE VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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In addition, Dr. Taub will participate in other forums on Wednesday November 4, 2009, including a panel on the "Clinical Landscape for New Diabetes Drug Candidates".
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About THR beta agonist
VIA-3196 is an orally administered, small-molecule beta-selective thyroid hormone receptor agonist designed to specifically target receptors in the liver involved in metabolism and cholesterol regulation, and avoid side effects associated with thyroid hormone receptor activation outside the liver. Roche has completed preclinical studies of the THR beta agonist. These studies demonstrated a rapid reduction of non-HDL cholesterol and the drug was shown to be synergistic with statins in animal studies. VIA will investigate the possibility of using the THR beta agonist in combination with statins for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. In addition, in animal studies, insulin sensitization and glucose lowering were observed making this compound a possible treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes in combination with other diabetes medications.
About DGAT1
DGAT1 (diacylglycerol acyl transferase-1) is an enzyme that catalyzes triglyceride synthesis and fat storage. Triglycerides are the principal component of fat, which is the major repository for storage of metabolic energy in the body. Overweight and obese individuals have significantly greater triglyceride levels, making them more prone to diabetes and its associated metabolic complications. DGAT1 inhibitors are believed to be an innovative class of compounds that modify lipid metabolism. In studies of obese animals, DGAT1 inhibitors have been shown to induce weight loss and improve insulin sensitization, glucose tolerance and lipid levels. These observations suggest DGAT1 inhibitors may have the potential to treat obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia. VIA intends to identify potential clinical candidates from the compounds in this program and determine which may be moved into further preclinical development.
About VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. VIA's lead candidate, VIA-2291, targets a significant unmet medical need by reducing inflammation in plaque, which is an underlying cause of atherosclerosis and its complications, including heart attack and stroke. In addition, VIA's pipeline of drug candidates includes other compounds to address other underlying causes of cardiovascular disease: high cholesterol, diabetes and inflammation. For more information, visit: http://www.viapharmaceuticals.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or to VIA's future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause VIA's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond VIA's control and which could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.
Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to:
- our ability to comply with the NASDAQ rules for continued listing in order to maintain the listing of our common stock on NASDAQ;
- our ability to borrow additional amounts under the loan from Bay City Capital, which is subject to the discretion of Bay City Capital;
- our ability to obtain necessary financing in the near term, including amounts necessary to repay the loan from Bay City Capital by the October 31, 2009 maturity date (or earlier if certain repayment acceleration provisions are triggered);
- our ability to control our operating expenses;
- our ability to comply with covenants included in the loan from Bay City Capital;
- our ability to timely recruit and enroll patients in any future clinical trials;
- our failure to obtain sufficient data from enrolled patients that can be used to evaluate VIA-2291, thereby impairing the validity or statistical significance of our clinical trials;
- our ability to successfully complete our clinical trials of VIA-2291 on expected timetables and the outcomes of such clinical trials;
- complexities in designing and implementing cardiometabolic clinical trials using surrogate endpoints in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials which may differ from the ultimate endpoints required for registration of a candidate drug;
- the results of our clinical trials, including without limitation, with respect to the safety and efficacy of VIA-2291;
- if the results of the ACS and CEA studies, upon further review and analysis, are revised, interpreted differently by regulatory authorities or negated by later stage clinical trials;
- our ability to obtain necessary FDA approvals, including to initiate future clinical trials of VIA-2291;
- our ability to successfully commercialize VIA-2291;
- our ability to identify potential clinical candidates from the family of DGAT1 compounds licensed and move them into preclinical development;
- our ability to obtain and protect our intellectual property related to our product candidates;
- our potential for future growth and the development of our product pipeline, including the THR beta agonist candidate and the other compounds licensed from Roche;
- our ability to obtain strategic opportunities to partner and collaborate with large biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies to further develop VIA-2291;
- our ability to form and maintain collaborative relationships to develop and commercialize our product candidates;
- general economic and business conditions; and
- the other risks described under Item 1A "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, as supplemented by the risks described under Item 1A "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2009 and June 30, 2009, each on file with the SEC.
SOURCE VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
