History
ENDECE was founded in 2006 with the vision to discover and develop therapies for human disease by harnessing the control of key cellular pathways via the modulation of nuclear receptors. Dr. James Yarger (co-founder) initially used in silico modeling as the basis of a rational drug design approach leading to the discovery and synthesis of a library of novel and proprietary compounds related to estradiol.
All 40 compounds currently in the library are structurally similar to endogenous small molecules that are present in living systems and used to control the cell’s normal machinery for regulating cellular growth, proliferation, and death. ENDECE’s research team used in vitro and in vivo models to identify lead compounds that effectively kill human tumor cell lines and identified their mechanism of action. For example, ENDECE’s lead oncolytic compound, NDC-1308, modulates the activity of estrogen receptors to impact chromosome replication and cell death pathways. NDC-1308 is formulated into a proprietary nanoparticle to enhance its effectiveness at the tumor site. ENDECE’s goal for NDC-1308 is to enter human clinical trials for cancer in 2012.
ENDECE scientists continue to build the infrastructure necessary to further develop the value of the proprietary compound library. Beyond cancer therapies, the entrepreneurial spirit of ENDECE’s staff has led to the rapid discovery of analogs modeled from our original set of compounds that demonstrate therapeutic potential for neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis and may be useful alongside other therapies to reduce pain.
