Intellikine and the PKD Foundation have entered into a partnership to investigate novel, orally-available small molecule kinase inhibitors of the TORC1 and TORC2 complexes as a potential treatment for patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
The PKD Foundation will initially support Intellikine efforts to assess the drug candidates using preclinical models of the disease.
PKD Foundation chief scientific officer Jill Panetta said that the organisation is thrilled to work with Intellikine to accelerate the development of TORC1/2 inhibitors as a potential treatment for patients with PKD.
TORC1/2 inhibitors work by blocking TORC1 and TORC2, thus more potently inhibiting mTOR kinas,e and may offer greater efficacy in the treatment of PKD.
Autosomal dominant PKD is a potentially lethal monogenic hereditary disease characterised by development and growth of cysts in the kidneys. More than 1,000,000 patients in the US and Europe are estimated to have the disease.
