Sirtris Awarded Patent

Wade Roush3/19/08

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SIRT) of Cambridge, MA, said today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued to Sirtris the first patent ever granted for a class of compounds that activate SIRT1, a human enzyme that is the focus of much of the company’s research. In lab animals, Sirtris has found, activating SIRT1 lowers glucose levels and improves insulin sensitivity; the patent covers a potential Type 2 diabetes treatment that the company plans to test in human safety trials this year.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco. You can subscribe to his Google Group or e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com. Follow @