Latest news with #ACTH
The Star
6 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Malaysia, Asean missions celebrate Asean Day 2025 in The Hague
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The aroma of nasi lemak and fresh teh tarik filled the air, while captivating cultural performances set the tone for a vibrant Asean Day 2025 celebration here. The colourful showcase of South-East Asia's rich heritage came to life as the Embassy of Malaysia, together with the embassies of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, marked the occasion on Friday with a renewed call for unity. Guests enjoyed a lively morning of cultural exchange, warm camaraderie, and the unmistakable flavours of Asean hospitality, with Malaysian favourites – nasi lemak, teh tarik and the specially prepared serawa durian – proving crowd-pleasers that drew praise from attendees. In a statement, the Embassy of Malaysia in The Hague said diplomats, government officials, and members of the public gathered to celebrate the region's diversity under this year's theme: "Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Asean Future." Ambassador of Malaysia and Chair of the Asean Committee in The Hague (ACTH) Datuk Roseli Abdul in his welcoming remarks highlighted Asean's remarkable achievements over the decades and called for renewed efforts to build a resilient, innovative and people-centred Asean community. The event was graced by the presence of Asean Ambassadors from Brussels, the Ambassador of Timor-Leste from London, representatives from the Dutch government and international organisations, as well as members of the media. Gerrie Willems, representing the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, reaffirmed the close ties between Asean and the Netherlands. She expressed optimism that both sides would continue to explore new opportunities and strengthen cooperation based on mutual respect and shared values. The Asean Day 2025 celebration was hailed as a resounding success, underscoring the shared commitment of Asean Member States to deepen friendship, cooperation, and cultural understanding in the Netherlands and beyond. The event was supported by the Agriculture Counsellor Office, Matrade and Tourism Malaysia in The Hague. – Bernama
Business Wire
14-07-2025
- Health
- Business Wire
Aspect Biosystems Presents New Preclinical Data on Adrenal Bioprinted Tissue Therapeutics at ENDO 2025
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aspect Biosystems, a biotechnology company pioneering the development of Bioprinted Tissue Therapeutics (BTTs) as a new category in regenerative medicine, today announced new preclinical data at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting held in San Francisco. The company presented an oral and poster presentation highlighting that Aspect's adrenal BTTs can restore adrenal function, following natural daily hormone rhythms and maintaining long-term performance in animal models of primary adrenal insufficiency. Primary adrenal insufficiency is a serious, life-threatening condition in which the adrenal glands fail to produce sufficient levels of essential hormones such as cortisol, a key regulator of the body's stress response. The current standard of care involves daily hormone replacement therapy, which does not fully replicate the body's natural circadian hormone rhythms and is associated with significant drug-related side effects. This can leave patients with a poor quality of life and at risk of ongoing health challenges, including potentially fatal adrenal crises. Aspect's adrenal BTTs were developed using the company's proprietary full-stack tissue therapeutic platform, which combines AI-powered bioprinting, computational design tools, therapeutic cells, and advanced biomaterials. In preclinical studies, adrenal BTTs containing human adrenal cells were implanted into adrenalectomized mice. These BTTs produced cortisol in response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation—which is normally secreted from the brain—and followed the animals' natural circadian fluctuations in hormone levels. When exposed to high levels of injected ACTH, these mice demonstrated rapid increases in circulating cortisol, confirming that the adrenal BTTs were functionally responsive. In contrast, control animals receiving cell-free implants showed no significant cortisol levels and did not respond to ACTH stimulation. Importantly, adrenal BTTs remained functional in vivo throughout the study period of over six months and improved animal survival. 'Our research shows that Aspect's adrenal BTTs successfully replicate healthy human adrenal gland function by releasing cortisol in a pattern that follows the natural daily rhythms of hormone release and by responding appropriately to a stimulus that mimics a stress response,' said Sam Wadsworth, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Aspect Biosystems. 'These results demonstrate that our off-the-shelf, implantable cell therapy can work in harmony with the body's physiology and has real potential to serve as a functional cure for primary adrenal insufficiency." 'At Aspect, we're making breakthrough progress with our Bioprinted Tissue Therapeutics platform to restore complex biological functions across a range of serious endocrine and metabolic diseases,' said Tamer Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of Aspect Biosystems. 'This latest advance in primary adrenal insufficiency, a rare and life-threatening condition with limited treatment options, showcases the potential of a bioengineered cell therapy to recreate natural hormone function and deliver a truly disease-modifying solution. This reflects our mission to develop regenerative medicines capable of achieving functional cures for patients with serious and underserved diseases.' About ENDO Hosted by the Endocrine Society, ENDO is the leading global meeting on endocrinology research and clinical care. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions. Learn more at About Aspect Biosystems Aspect Biosystems is a biotechnology company pioneering the development of Bioprinted Tissue Therapeutics (BTTs) to transform how we treat some of the most elusive diseases. Aspect's BTTs are designed to replace, repair, or supplement biological function inside the body. Aspect is creating these next-generation cell therapies by applying its full-stack tissue therapeutic platform, which integrates proprietary AI-powered bioprinting technology, computational design tools, therapeutic cells, and advanced biomaterials. Aspect is advancing a pipeline of BTTs across multiple disease areas in the endocrine and metabolic space including diabetes, obesity, rare endocrine disorders, and liver disease. Aspect's pipeline development strategy involves both proprietary programs as well as strategic partnerships, including a collaboration with Novo Nordisk focused on diabetes and obesity. For more information, please visit and follow on LinkedIn.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OMass Therapeutics Presents Positive Preclinical Data For its Best-in-class MC2 Program at ENDO 2025
PRESS RELEASE OMass Therapeutics Presents Positive Preclinical Data For its Best-in-class MC2 Program at ENDO 2025 OMS1620 is advancing through IND-enabling studies for diseases associated with ACTH excess, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia Designed to resist competition from endogenous ACTH by maximizing receptor residency time OMS1620 demonstrates best-in-class efficacy in acute and chronic preclinical models of ACTH excess Oxford, United Kingdom – 14th July 2025 – OMass Therapeutics ('OMass' or 'the Company'), a biotechnology company identifying medicines against highly validated target ecosystems such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes, today announces positive preclinical data for OMS1620, its lead program targeting the melanocortin-2 (MC2) receptor, at ENDO 2025, the Annual Endocrine Society Meeting, taking place in San Francisco from 12-15 July. This poster is the first public data disclosure related to OMS1620, a potential best-in-class MC2R antagonist currently in IND-enabling studies. MC2R is a GPCR for the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a hormone released by the pituitary that triggers cortisol and androgen production. OMS1620 is being developed for diseases associated with ACTH excess, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). In classical CAH, patients are unable to produce cortisol and require exogenous glucocorticoid supplementation. In people without CAH, endogenous cortisol prevents ACTH upregulation but to achieve this in CAH patients, supraphysiological doses of glucocorticoids are usually required. This results in CAH patients having symptoms associated with ACTH over production (leading to androgen excess), side effects associated with glucocorticoid overdosing, or both. ACTH surges in CAH can be many times above the upper limit of normal, last for multiple hours, and increase as patients try to downtitrate their glucocorticoid dose. OMS1620 has been exquisitely designed to maximize receptor residency time, making it highly resistant to competition from rising endogenous ACTH. This was demonstrated preclinically utilizing an acute ACTH challenge model in rats, an experiment meant to mimic the high levels of ACTH observed in CAH patients. Compounds with longer residence time were shown to have greater MC2 receptor inhibition. OMS1620 also led to improvement in body and adrenal weight in a chronic ACTH excess model, where Sprague Dawley rats were treated with ACTH via an osmotic mini-pump. These results demonstrate OMS1620 is a potential best-in-class MC2 antagonist with the ideal compound properties to combat high ACTH surges that CAH patients can experience throughout the day. This can further support patients in achieving the ultimate treatment goal in CAH of androgen normalization whilst on physiological dose replacement of glucocorticoids. Ros Deegan, Chief Executive Officer at OMass Therapeutics, commented: 'This compelling preclinical data validates our approach of optimizing our MC2 antagonists' residence time to deliver a best-in-class molecule in OMS1620. Our preclinical modelling suggests OMS1620's profile can further support patients as they try to achieve the ultimate treatment goal in CAH of normalizing androgen levels while on physiological doses of glucocorticoids. This underscores the potential of our MC2 program to transform outcomes for patients with CAH, a population with significant unmet need and we're excited to take the next step towards the clinic.' The poster can be downloaded here. -ENDS- For further information, please contact: OMass Therapeutics Rosamond Deegan, Chief Executive OfficerEmail: ICR Healthcare (For media) Namrata Taak / Ashley Tapp Email: omass@ Thrust Strategic Communications (For IR)Renee LeckEmail: renee@ About OMass Therapeutics OMass Therapeutics is a biotechnology company discovering medicines against highly-validated target ecosystems, such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes. OdyssION™, OMass' unique drug discovery platform, comprises next-generation native mass spectrometry with novel biochemistry techniques and custom chemistry to interrogate not just a drug target, but also the interaction of the target with its native ecosystem, separate from the confounding complexity of the cell. This unique approach results in cell-system fidelity with cell-free precision. OMass is advancing a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics in rare diseases and immunological conditions. Its lead program is a best-in-class MC2 (melanocortin-2) receptor antagonist for the treatment of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) and ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome. The focus of the program has been to increase receptor residency time to make OMass' antagonists resistant to competition by the endogenous ligand, thereby avoiding loss of efficacy in the face of rising adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels due to reductions in glucocorticoid supplementation for CAH or progression of Cushing's Syndrome. Headquartered in Oxford, UK, OMass has raised over $160M (£129M) from a top-tier international investor syndicate including Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, Sanofi Ventures and British Patient Capital. To learn more, please visit Follow us on in to access your portfolio
CBC
13-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
7-year-old in Hamilton has rare condition with $300K annual treatment her family can't afford
Social Sharing Ibrahim Hermus arrived in Canada in 2023 with hopes his young daughter, Cena, would receive the medical care she desperately needed for a rare condition. But Ibrahim soon discovered that would not be the case. Cena, 7, was born in Turkey. At age 2, she was diagnosed with proopiomelanocortin (POMC) deficiency. The rare, life-threatening disorder causes severe obesity at an early age. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, people with the disorder have low levels of the hormone adrenocorticotropic (ACTH), which can come with other health-threatening complications. Cena and her family arrived in Canada on Sep. 12, 2023, as refugees from Turkey. Before that, they lived in Syria but had to flee the war-torn country. Ibrahim said Cena weighed around 165 pounds when they came to Canada, after deadly earthquakes hit both countries, and she's now around 220. During a recent visit to the family's Hamilton Mountain home, Ibrahim said he's "very scared" for his daughter. The treatment Cena needs — a medication called setmelanotide — is at least $300,000 during the first year, according to both the family and McMaster Children's Hospital, which has been giving care to the seven-year-old. CBC Hamilton has seen the hospital documents recommending the treatment for Cena. But that's a cost the family can't afford. Condition makes breathing, going to school hard At home, Cena has a shy demeanour and timid smile. She likes to hold onto a doll, which she says is her favourite, and loves playing with her little sister, Fatima. According to her father, Cena loves to spend time playing with her toys, as well as painting and drawing. But doing her favourite things can get difficult for Cena. Her condition makes her feel tired and unable to walk most of the time, and she's unable to attend school most days. Cena also suffers from sleep apnea, often waking up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe. Ibrahim said she's also dealing with diabetes, liver problems and constant pain. Along with obesity, people with POMC deficiency tend to have adrenal insufficiency, which can lead to periods of low blood sugar, seizures and high levels of a bilirubin, a toxic substance. Adrenal insufficiency can lead to death if not treated early, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Health Canada says one in 12 people has a rare disease; many of them are children. CBC Hamilton reached out to the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders to understand more about POMC deficiency in Canada, but did not receive a response before publication. The government of Canada has called POMC "very rare," citing the GlobalData Healthcare database. In the U.S., fewer than 1,000 people have the condition, according to Department of Health and Human Services. In Cena's case, the medication she needs is not covered by the Ontario Drug Benefit program. A spokesperson from the Ontario Ministry of Health told CBC Hamilton that for drugs like Imcivree (setmelanotide) to be covered under the program, the manufacturer must submit a request saying it is being used for a specific medical condition — and the ministry says the manufacturer has not done that. CBC Hamilton reached out to the manufacturer of Imcivree (setmelanotide) for comment but did not hear back before publication. The drug was approved by Health Canada for use here in 2023. 'My heart is broken for this family' Ibrahim said neither he nor his wife has been able to work in Canada due to a language barrier and the constant medical appointments and level of care their daughter needs. They get Ontario child benefit payments and food bank support from Mishka Social Services, an organization that helps the local Muslim community. Along with Cena, there are five other children — four at home who are two through 14 years old, and two adult children living in Canada. Over the past six months, Rania Mohammed, a social service worker with Mishka, has been working closely with the couple and their kids. "My heart is broken for this family," she told CBC Hamilton. She said this has been a difficult time for the family, especially Ibrahim, who feels "overwhelmed, scared, nervous" about what will happen to Cena. "He told me, 'Can you imagine the feeling when you see your loved one, my daughter, in front of me, and I cannot afford her medication? And I know if this won't be covered, I'm going to lose her,'" Mohammed said. Ibrahim said the anxiety has taken a big toll on him and his health, and he often finds it hard to sleep. Ozempic another option for Cena But Ibrahim won't stop trying to help his daughter, Mohammed said. Mishka Social Services has also been advocating for Cena. Since last year, the organization has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for her medication and is organizing a fundraising Iftar dinner during the holy month of Ramadan, with part of the proceeds going to help Cena, according to Mohammed. The dinner is Friday at Carmen's event centre. While setmelanotide remains out of reach right now, Cena is taking some medication to ease symptoms. Ozempic, a drug approved to treat diabetes, is also a temporary option to manage Cena's weight, Mohammed said. But even though it's less expensive — around $400 a month — the family says it does not fit in their budget. With help from Mishka and other services, Cena's family has reached out to multiple organizations and local officials such as members of Parliament to raise awareness of their situation and ask for "any support available." They have yet to receive any as a result, Mohammed said.
