Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Anthill to help Zafgen fight obesity

By Mass High Tech Staff

High-speed chemistry technology maker Anthill Technologies Inc. has entered into an agreement with Zafgen Inc., a Boston-based pharmaceutical firm combating obesity. Zafgen will use Anthill Technology’s ACOS chemical synthesis and purification tools to help the company develop lead compounds using its approach to target vascular tissue.

ACOS, or Applied Chemistry Operating Systems, were developed to shorten the drug discovery process through more efficient and reliable chemical production, according to Anthill officials. Woburn-based Anthill was founded in 2005 by CEO Joseph Hogan, who is also the founder and former chief scientific officer of Woburn-based, oncology-focused biotech ArQule Inc.

Zafgen was started with financial backing from Atlas Venture and Third Rock, according to portfolio lists from the companies. Its therapeutics platform was based on research from Children’s Hospital Boston, performed by Maria Rupnick and the late Judah Folkman, who was head of the vascular biology program at the hospital and died in January. MIT’s Robert Langer is also a founder.

Obesity has become a global epidemic and has been shown to cause serious health problems such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. The United States ranks number one in highest rates of obesity (32 percent of adults) in the developed world, according the World Health Organization.