Catalyst: Protease platform

As one of the largest gene families, composing about 2.5% of the human genome, it is hard to find a biological or pathological process in which proteases don't play a role. This makes them a potentially biologically privileged scaffold for drug development. But despite the importance of proteases and their validation as a therapeutic class, Catalyst Biosciences Inc. says it is the first company to create a protease-based platform.

Protease inhibitors for HIV are the best known examples of using proteases as small molecule targets. There also are seven marketed therapeutic proteases: Activase tPA, Factor IX, Factor XIIa, Xigris drotrecogin, Botox, TNKase tenecteplase and thrombin. ...