PhiloGene: The flip side of VEGF

PhiloGene Inc. believes it can improve on the efficacy and safety offered by anti-angiogenic drugs by focusing on a recently discovered isoform of VEGF that inhibits rather than promotes angiogenesis. The key, according to the company, is to restore the natural balance between the isoforms that promote the formation of new vasculature and those that inhibit such growth.

Initially, the only identified isoforms of vascular endothelial growth factor were known to promote angiogenesis by activating VEGF receptors, thereby stimulating endothelial cell survival, migration and proliferation. These isoforms, including the most common, VEGF 165, also are up-regulated in all known tumor types...