MissionIR's  Instablog

The business model used by VistaGen Therapeutics targets the billions of dollars spent by the pharmaceutical industry to discover, optimize, and validate the potential efficacy of new drug candidates, taking a drug candidate all the way through non-clinical development, only to have heart toxicity problems end up derailing it. Worse yet, the drug can get to market, and have subtle toxicity issues arise further along, jeopardizing the lives of patients, costing even more money, and giving both the drug and the company a black eye.

It's not only money that is lost, but the potential value of the drugs themselves. If potential toxicity issues could be identified early in the development cycle, variants could potentially be engineered, preserving the drug's benefits while removing the threats. Shelved drug candidates could be rescued, and more successful drugs could be made available; especially important today because the number of drugs approved by the FDA over the past decade has dropped by over 50%, in spite of massive increases in the amount of money spent on R&D by drug companies. The total cost of developing a successful drug can now reach several billion dollars.

VistaGen, through the use of advanced stem cell technology, has found ways to create functioning heart cells that can act as a basis for a new approach to testing, offering more accurate tests that can be performed early in the development process. The result is a good sense of toxicity challenges at a time when changes can still be economically made, saving drug producers substantial time and money. VistaGen's goal is to leverage their stem cell technology to create proprietary drug rescue variants that are as effective as the original candidates, but without the toxicity.

For additional information, visit the company's website at www.VistaGen.com

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