Welcome to Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals and thank you for taking the time to explore our website.

Who We Are
Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals is a venture-backed biotechnology company founded by Prof. H. Uri Saragovi and Dr. Garth Cumberlidge. The company is actively pursuing the development of novel small molecule compounds to treat neurodegenerative diseases of the eye, including dry eye, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa. All these diseases represent very large unmet medical needs, particularly for the aging population.

What We Do
Mimetogen designs and develops small molecule drugs that mimic the effects of neurotrophins, proteins that help maintain the health and growth of many cells and tissues found in the eye. Making drugs that can mimic the large natural molecules may lead to the development of novel approaches to treat degenerative ocular diseases such as glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and dry eye.

Currently the company has three major ocular development programs.  In glaucoma we are focusing on mechanisms of protecting the retinal ganglion cells of the optic nerve, which are known to die in glaucoma. We have developed a number of compounds that show excellent neuroprotective features in animal models of glaucoma and have further been shown to significantly enhance the neuroprotective effects of intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering drugs currently being used to treat the disease.

In dry eye, we have developed two families of small molecule compounds that have extremely robust mucin stimulating properties. Mucin has long been known to be one of the components of the tear film that is found to be reduced in dry eye patients. A lead compound for this disease is currently being chosen and it is expected that clinical trials will commence in 2009.

In retinitis pigmentosa, we have developed three different compounds are capable of protecting pigmented retinal epithelial cells when they are subjected to otherwise deadly levels of oxidative stress. The most active compounds are being selected and will be used in rodent genetic models of the disease for further screening purposes.

Where We Are
The company currently has offices and laboratories at the Lady Davis Research Institute at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. We also have offices in Boston, MA.

Find Out More
You can find out much more about the company, our dedicated staff, advisers and investors and learn more about our lead programs and partnering opportunities in the appropriate sections of the website.

You can also contact us by filling out the e-mail form on our contact page.

Garth Cumberlidge
President & CEO
Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals