Success Stories

Dr. Hani Najafi and team established a research collaboration with Moderna to develop a novel lipid-lowering therapeutic strategy. Under the agreement, Dr. Najafi’s team is developing and testing a new therapy for rebalancing levels of circulating blood lipids by effectively increasing the clearance of atherogenic lipids and enhancing the production of functional, anti-inflammatory lipid species through microRNAs. This experimental therapy has the potential to improve treatments for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease patients.

Dr. Rayaz Malik has pioneered corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) as a rapid non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic tool for assessing disease progression in diabetic and other peripheral neuropathies and as an end-point in clinical intervention trials. Dr. Malik’s Team are now working with Biogen to use CCM in a study entitled, ‘A Phase 2 Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind, Enriched Enrollment Randomized Withdrawal Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of BIIB074 (Vixotrigine) in Treating Pain Experienced by Subjects With Confirmed Small Fiber Neuropathy That Is Idiopathic or Associated With Diabetes Mellitus’. Vixotrigine is a voltage- and use-dependent sodium channel blocker. More information about this study can be found at https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2017-000991-27/GB

Dr Rayaz Malik is a key scientific and clinical advisor to Praetego’s small molecule therapeutics programme in Diabetic Complications. Dr. Malik was instrumental in supporting the successful award of Praetego’s Phase 2 STTR grant from the NIH and is the clinical advisor on the novel Amadorins in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy project.  He is an integral part of the development program for the lead Amadorin for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, bringing his expertise in Corneal Confocal Microscopy (CCM) and clinical trial endpoints to accelerate a solution to this unmet medical need.