Sirtris Pharmaceuticals To Present At Keystone Symposia's Diabetes Mellitus, Insulin Action And Resistance Conference

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 25 Jan 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, announced today that a member of its Scientific Advisory Board and two of its scientists will be presenting at the Keystone Symposia's Diabetes Mellitus, Insulin Action and Resistance Conference in Breckenridge, Colorado January 22-27. The presentations will include data on the impact of a new chemical activator of SIRT1, an enzyme shown to increase insulin sensitivity and improve glucose levels when stimulated in pre-clinical models of Type 2 Diabetes.

Johan Auwerx, MD, PhD, a member of Sirtris' Scientific Advisory Board and Professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Strasburg and Co-director of the Mouse Clinical Institute (ICS) in Strasburg, France, will speak during the session on New Molecular Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance. His talk will be on Saturday, January 26 from 8-11:30 am CST. Professor Auwerx will present new data that includes the impact of one of Sirtris' new chemical entities (NCEs) in mice on a high-fat diet.

Heidi Galonek, PhD of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals will present her poster titled Small Molecule Activators of SIRT1 Suppress Inflammatory Signaling Pathways In Vivo on Wednesday, January 23 from 7:30-10:00 pm CST. "This work, which also used one of Sirtris' new chemical entities, suggests SIRT1 activators could address the chronic low grade inflammation associated with Type 2 Diabetes," said Michael Jirousek, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research. "In addition, we demonstrated that we could improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostatsis."

Jesse Smith, PhD, also of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, will present his poster titled Small Molecule Activators of SIRT1 Mimic Calorie Restriction In Vivo: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy in Treating Type II Diabetes on Friday, January 25 from 7:30-10:00 pm CST. "This work demonstrates that small molecules can mimic aspects of calorie restriction (CR) and provides further understanding of the mechanisms at work," said Jirousek. "In a blinded analysis, databases at a computational systems biology company concluded that the strongest hypothesis for the results seen in our study was calorie restriction-showing that our novel SIRT1 activators are mimicking the effects of calorie restriction."

"Sirtris is dedicated to building a broad platform of sirtuin therapeutics for diseases of aging," said Sirtris Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair Christoph Westphal, MD, PhD. "Our research program is continuously progressing new chemical entities toward the clinic with the first NCE planned to enter human trials in the first half of 2008."

About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing proprietary, orally available, small molecule drugs with the potential to treat diseases associated with aging, including metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. Our drug candidates are designed to mimic certain beneficial health effects of calorie restriction, without requiring a change in eating habits, by activation of sirtuins, a recently discovered class of enzymes that control the aging process. The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, the potential therapeutic effects of SIRT1 activators for diseases of aging, such as Type 2 Diabetes; the progress and results of pre-clinical studies of new chemical entities and pre-clinical and clinical studies of SIRT1 activators; development of first-in-class therapeutics known as new chemical entities that modulate sirtuins; and the potential of sirtuin modulators to receive regulatory approval. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the lack of results that would provide a basis for predicting whether any of the Company's product candidates will be safe or effective, or receive regulatory approval, the possibility that results of pre-clinical studies are not necessarily predictive of clinical trial results, the Company's potential inability to initiate and complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for its product candidates, the fact that none of the Company's product candidates has received regulatory approvals, the potential inability of the Company to gain market acceptance of the Company's product candidates, and those other risks factors that can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those Sirtris Pharmaceuticals contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals