The British company Evgen Pharma has signed an option to purchase the patent “Sulforaphane-derived compounds: method of obtaining them and their medical, nutritional and cosmetic use” (PCT/ES2013/070134; P201230356) whose inventors are Dr. Noureddine Khiar El Wahabi, Scientific Researcher at the CSIC, and head of the Asymmetric Synthesis and Functional Nanosystems Group at the Institute of Chemical Research at cicCartuja, Professor Inmaculada Fernández Fernández, Professor at the University of Seville, and head of the Stereochemistry and Asymmetric Synthesis Group at the Faculty of Pharmacy, and Dr. Rocío Recio Jiménez, Substitute Professor at the Department of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Seville.
Sulforaphane (SFN) is a plant-derived molecule that is abundant in the cruciferous family and one of the epigenetic agents with the greatest potential in the treatment of multiple diseases. SFN and its analogues can be used in the prevention or treatment of a multitude of diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, autism, skin ageing, COPD, bacterial infections, atopic diseases, etc. Furthermore, no adverse effects have been described in the studies carried out so far. However, despite the great potential of SFN as a new therapeutic strategy, at the moment there is no medicine formulated with this active ingredient, due to its great instability.
Evgen Pharma owns a technology that allows, for the first time, the synthesis and subsequent stabilisation of SFN for pharmaceutical applications. The company leads the clinical development of these molecules as an anti-cancer drug and uses its patented synthetic sulforaphane stabilisation technology to use it as a new treatment in patients with “slow or indolent” prostate cancer in the early stages.
Following the signing of the agreement, Evgen Pharma CEO Dr. Stephen Franklin comments that “the company is delighted to collaborate with researchers from the CSIC and the University of Seville, as they are considered natural partners when it comes to exploring the clinical potential of these molecules.” For their part, Dr. Noureddine Khiar and Dr. Inmaculada Fernández welcome the company’s interest in their work and comment that “Evgen Pharma’s stabilization technology is important to maintain the integrity of our compounds and to be able to investigate their practical utility as potential drugs.”