Application
Current calcitonin therapies suffer from poor patient compliance due to injectable and nasal delivery. Despite decade of research, no oral calcitonin therapy has successfully reached the market- until now.
Our analogue is designed for oral treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, Paget’s disease, hypercalcemia, and bone pain associated with fractures or diabetic neuropathy. It targets a major unmet need for non-invasive, long-term calcitonin therapy.
Our Innovation
A first-in-class orally stable analogue of salmon calcitonin that combines a proprietary peptide stapling strategy with a targeted amino acid substitution that mimics the human hormone.
This dual modification overcomes the key barrier to oral calcitonin – enzymatic degradation in the GI tract – while maintaining full biological activity. The analogue exhibits:
- 5× longer half-life in gastric fluid and 8× longer half-life in intestinal fluid
Nanomolar potency in activating calcitonin receptors
Advantages
- First-ever oral formulation of calcitonin
- Greatly improved GI stability without compromising activity
- Solid-phase synthesis enables scalable, cost-effective production
- improved patient compliance with non-invasive use
- Offers a dual benefit in bone health and chronic pain relief
Opportunity
Calcitonin has been on the market for over 40 years – yet all formulations are injectable or intranasal. Previous attempts at oral calcitonin failed in clinical trials due to instability or poor bioavailability. Our technology directly addresses this unmet need.
The global market potential for this innovation is significant: over 9 million osteoporotic fractures occur annually worldwide, and there is a growing demand for safer, non-opioid treatments for chronic bone pain. With the osteoporosis drug market projected to reach $14–18 billion by 2030, and no direct competition in the oral calcitonin segment, this technology represents a unique and timely opportunity. We are currently seeking sponsored research partners and licensing opportunities to advance it toward the clinic.