Merck & Co. Inc. and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. have entered into an exclusive global license agreement for HS-10535, a preclinical oral small-molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Hansoh Pharma has granted Merck an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and commercialize HS-10535.

A gene therapy based on an enhanced lipid nanoparticle (LNP) loaded with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA could be developed for the treatment of preeclampsia, according to a study in mice in which it alleviated maternal hypertension until the end of gestation and improved fetal health. Preeclampsia is a disease that affects 3% to 5% of pregnant women, who suffer from hypertension and proteinuria, elevated levels of protein in the urine, during pregnancy.

Data from a preclinical study assessing Mission Therapeutics Ltd.’s clinical-stage USP30 inhibitor MTX-652, for the prevention of transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling, were recently presented.

Ferroptosis is a programmed cell death mechanism driven specifically by lipid peroxidation. Previous research found that ferroptosis is linked to the onset and progression of cardiovascular diseases, particularly those closely associated with vascular endothelial cell (VEC) injury.

Recent findings have unveiled that 15-HETE is the endogenous agonist for G protein-coupled receptor 39 (GPR39) in vascular smooth cells, so researchers hypothesized that GPR39 could work as a therapeutic target in pulmonary arterial hypertension and its deletion might prevent the development of the disease.

Potent siRNAs against B4GALT1 were designed in silico and screened in vitro (Huh7 cells, primary mouse, human hepatocytes) as well as in vivo (C57BL/6 mice) for the selection of a lead Galomic siRNA.