Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Nostrum Pharmaceuticals has obtained a worldwide license from India's Institute of Microbial Technology to carry out clinical development and commercialization of a novel clot-busting therapeutic protein.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
The therapeutic protein being licensed by Nostrum is known as clot-specific streptokinase (CSSK), which was developed at The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), an institute governed by the Indian government’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Nostrum will develop this therapeutic protein in association with its affiliate, Symmetrix Pharmaceuticals.
CSSK is an engineered protein produced by recombinant DNA technology. The cDNA coding for streptokinase has been fused with the cDNA of another naturally occurring human blood protein. The resulting hybrid protein is a product that has a very high affinity for the blood clot while it does not have any plasminogen lysis property.
However, upon binding to the blood clot protein fibrin, the hybrid protein is lysed into its individual component proteins. As a result, streptokinase is released and is active only in the vicinity of the blood clot. Therefore, the common problem of blood thinning associated with streptokinase due to general and widespread plasminogen lysis in the blood that can cause severe bleeding and hence death in some cases, will be avoided when CSSK is used.