Claritas Announces Formation of Nitric Oxide Scientific Advisory Board

SAN FRANCISCO and TORONTO, March 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Claritas Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Kalytera Therapeutics, Inc.) (TSX VENTURE: KLY and OTC: KALTF) (the "Company" or "Claritas") today announced the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”) that will work closely with Claritas’ management team to develop nitric oxide-based therapeutics to treat diseases and disorders with significant unmet medical need. The SAB will be led by Dr. Garry J. Southan, an internationally renowned expert in the biology, biochemistry, and chemistry of nitric oxide.

A synthetic chemist by training, Dr. Southan has an extensive experience and publication record in nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and in the chemistry of NOS inhibitors, nitric oxide adducts, and nitric oxide donor compounds. He has successfully identified, synthesized, and characterized a wide variety of novel NOS inhibitors as well as nitric oxide donor compounds. He is also the author of invited reviews and more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 25 patents, and an invited speaker at international meetings on the topic of NOS inhibitors and nitric oxide donors.

For his post-doctoral studies, Dr. Southan spent 3 years with the Nobel Laureate Sir John R. Vane, FRS at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, England to study the biochemistry of nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthases. Dr. Southan worked with Sir John Vane at the time when interest in nitric oxide as a vascular mediator was developing. As the only recognized chemist in the William Harvey Research Institute, he was required to explain why certain compounds prolonged the effects of “endothelial derived relaxing factor” (EDRF) on ex-vivo tissues. In the course of these studies, he showed that EDRF is in fact nitric oxide, and, subsequently, that nitric oxide associated with these hydroxyguanidine compounds to stabilize its activity. While investigating this interaction, he isolated and ultimately characterized a novel class of resonance-stabilized compounds formed by the reaction of nitric oxide and nitric oxide-related species with hydroxyguanidines. These compounds decompose in solution to release nitric oxide and nitrous oxide. Nitric oxide is produced in vivo by the NOS family of enzymes. Using 15N labeled substrates and high-resolution mass-spectrometry, he was able to confirm that nitric oxide synthase utilizes the hydroxylated guanidino nitrogen of N-hydroxyarginine for the generation of nitric oxide. At the same time, he discovered novel classes of inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide generation, which had beneficial effects in models of inflammation and ischemic/reperfusion disease.