Preclinical Pipeline

MIDAS™, Palatin’s proprietary drug discovery engine, fuels the Company’s pipeline of product candidates, generating multiple compounds that interact with the melanocortin family of receptors. Through MIDAS™, Palatin has identified several molecules that are now in preclinical development as potential treatments for obesity, cachexia, and congestive heart failure.

Preclinical Pipeline Opportunities:

• MC3/4R agonists as a treatment for obesity
• MC3/4R antagonists as a treatment for cachexia
• NPR agonists as a treatment for congestive heart failure

Obesity/Cachexia and Feeding Disorders:

Increasing evidence supports the involvement of the MC4 receptor in feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. It has been shown that agonists, such as alpha-MSH, exert anorectic effects, and that antagonists induce increased food intake.

Obesity is a significant healthcare issue, sometimes referred to as an epidemic. In the U.S., more than 65 percent of adult Americans are categorized as being overweight or obese. Each year, obesity causes at least 300,000 excess deaths in the U.S., and healthcare costs of American adults with obesity amount to approximately $100B. Additionally, studies in adolescents indicate that there is a trend towards increased prevalence of the disease.

Anorectic conditions, which manifest as cachexia, are represented not only by anorexia nervosa but also by other anorectic or wasting conditions (e.g. aging, cancer or HIV). All of these conditions represent areas of significant unmet medical need.

Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and is the most frequent cause of hospitalization among people over the age of 65. There are nearly 5 million patients with CHF in the U.S., and over 500,000 newly diagnosed cases each year, resulting in an estimated cost of $27.9B.

Natriuretic peptides (NP) are normally produced by the body in response to physiological mechanisms that lead to CHF, and they reduce vascular volume by lowering blood pressure and increasing excretion of salts in the urine. Palatin is developing a small molecule that acts as an agonist at the NP receptor.