Moerae develops novel therapeutics against difficult-to-target kinases to address indications with significant unmet clinical need.  Our drugs have distinct kinase activity profiles that drive target indication selection.

 

Moerae’s lead drug was designed to inhibit mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-activated protein kinase-2 (MAPKAPK-2 or MK2) MAPKAP kinase II.  MK2 has been implicated in a wide range of human diseases characterized by inflammation and complicated by scarring and fibrosis.

 

MK2 functions downstream in the TGF-β pathway and is a major substrate of p38 MAPK.  It has been linked to inflammation and fibrosis via stabilization of inflammatory cytokine mRNA and actin stress fiber formation.  Inhibition of MK2 downregulates inflammatory cytokine expression and conversion of cells to a myofibroblastic phenotype, diminishing clinical inflammation, scarring and fibrosis.

 

The Company’s technology is based on the pioneering work of Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Alyssa Panitch, Ph.D., Professor, Purdue University’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Chief Medical Officer Colleen Brophy, M.D., Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.