A company called Signum Biosciences is developing a new product to target rosacea. Based on a technology that they call G-protein Modulators, GPMs are said to “restore signalling imbalances in the cell”. A first generation product called Arazine is soon to become available and a second generation of products are to target rosacea, psoriasis and eczema.
According to Signum Bioscience’s Development Pipeline, SIG990 is in the preclinical phase as a rosacea treatment.
Signum Bioscience’s patented compounds and methods revolve around a group of derivatives called prenyl peptides. Signum’s GPM Technology Platform constitutes a new class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories that have broad utility over multiple therapeutic areas by acting as G-protein modulators (GPMs). Initially anti-aging and anti-inflammatory compounds will have immediate impact in skin care products as topical cosmeceuticals (e.g. Arazine™) followed by pharmaceutical inflammatory skin applications. Furthermore, Signum’s goal is the development of anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals.
Some further extracts from their web site;
GPM Pharmaceutical Development
The most common topical treatment options include antimicrobial agents (e.g. Metrogel, Clindamycin, Clindamycin-Benzoyl peroxide, Sodium Sulfacetamide/Sulfur and Finacea) which inhibit ROS generation by neutrophils, thereby reducing inflammation. However, these treatments do not reduce the initiating inflammatory events (inflammatory mediator release and neutrophil recruitment) of rosacea.
Conversely, GPMs inhibit inflammation directly and indirectly by reducing activity and/or expression of all the key players in rosacea, not just ROS production
Results demonstrate that GPMs:
- Inhibit release of key inflammatory mediators (e.g. TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, VCAM-1, GM-CSF, Gro-α, MCP-1)
- Inhibit neutrophil adhesion and infiltration
- Inhibit ROS production from neutrophils
Given Arazine’s safety and effectiveness as an anti-inflammatory, second generation GPM compounds, provide an effective nonsteroidal alternative for patients suffering from skin diseases such as: rosacea, acne, psoriasis and eczema.
The first GPM based topical containing Arazine is planned to be released to the Japanese market in the second quarter of 2010.
In February 2010 Diane Thiboutot, MD joined Signum Biosciences’s scientific advisory board. Dr. Thiboutot is known to rosacea sufferers for her contribution to the standard rosacea treatments, the rosacea classification and severity system as well as presentations to the AAD on the use of off-label rosacea treatments.
Dr. Zoe Draelos MD is also listed as a GPM Scientific Advisor.
It is very early in the development cycle for Signum Biosciences, but it is encouraging to see a new class of anti-inflammatory being researched.
10 Comments ↓
So, does anyone know if can Arazine be used to treat rosacea? I haven’t been able to find much information online and their website doesn’t seem to say what it’s for.
I have asked them for more information and will report back info I found out.
davidp.
I had e-mailed Dr. Stock late last year with that question, he quickly answered me back: Arazine is NOT for the treatment of rosacea, they are working on a pharmaceutical grade RX that is designed for rosacea, however it is years out from a release, they were looking for a US partner to collaberate with for its’ release and promotion.
But I didn’t ask if Arazine would work for rosacea, as far as I understand it’s just a much weaker version than their planned RX rosacea product, so as far as I know it would work, but just not as well.
They do characterize Arazine as a first generation molecule and SIG0990 as a second generation molecule.
The claimed superiority of SIG0990 compared to current topicals wrt to redness reduction is exciting, but as we know with Sansrosa for eg. it takes years and years and years to get to market.
David,
Can you work your magic and get a release date for Arazine? I checked the website for Rohto in Japan and there is nothing about Arazine on there. I am looking forward to trying this as soon as it’s released for sales, as long as they’ll ship to the US.
So far my emails are unanswered, I will try some more and see what they say.
Just received an e-mail from Dr. Stock, Arazine will be released by Rohto in Japan next month, he also CC’ed my inquiry to Mr. Perez at Signum, who will contact me with a precise date and availibility to the US market, which I will relay to you.
Thanks DukeCity, I got a reply this morning as well.
Looks like they are in the stage of trialling Arazine for redness and in the future continuing to target SIG990 for rosacea.
So there appears to be 3 approaches that are interesting for us
1. Arazine in Japan
2. Arazine being trialled for redness
3. SIG990 is `moving ahead’ as a potential rosacea treatment.
davidp.
Any thoughts on controlling blushing?
Anyone tried Arazine?