Prestigious Paul Ehrlich Award Bestowed Upon Araim Pharmaceuticals Founder, Anthony Cerami

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., April 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is proud to announce that founder Anthony Cerami, PhD, MD (Hon) has been awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for 2018. He and David Wallach of Israel received the award in recognition of their basic research into tumor necrosis factor (TNF), one of the immune system's most important cytokines.

The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is one of the highest endowed and internationally most distinguished awards in medicine in Germany.  The annual award has been bestowed by the Paul Ehrlich Foundation since 1952 for investigations in medicine, to honor scientists who have made significant contributions in Paul Ehrlich's field of research, in particular immunology, cancer research, microbiology, and chemotherapy. The prize-awarding ceremony is traditionally held on March 14, the birthday of Nobel laureate Paul Ehrlich, in St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main. 

In the 1980s, Dr. Cerami discovered that TNF is an immune system signaling molecule which plays an important role in chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Wallach discovered the receptors on the cell surface and determined the signaling pathways involved. These discoveries led to new treatments for autoimmune diseases, therapies which block TNF activity. Inhibition of TNF, and other mediators of inflammation, has become the basis for a broad spectrum of new drug products treating multiple diseases and currently generating more than 35 billion US dollars in sales yearly worldwide. With their work, Drs. Wallach and Cerami have contributed to developing new treatment options for autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, and other chronic inflammatory diseases.

As his research focus continued to expand, Dr. Cerami, along with Michael Brines, MD, PhD, identified the body's innate repair receptor, which activates both anti-inflammatory and repair mechanisms.  They co-founded Araim Pharmaceuticals, which has developed a platform of compounds, has generated positive pre-clinical efficacy findings across multiple disease models, and has advanced the lead compound, cibinetide, in clinical development through Phase 2b.  In multiple clinical trials, cibinetide has demonstrated consistent regeneration of small nerve fibers, improvements in pain and enhanced functional mobility for patients suffering from neuropathy.  As part of Araim's ongoing collaborative pre-clinical research endeavors, an extensive evaluation of the potential for cibinetide to increase health-span and life-span is being conducted by the National Institutes of Aging at NIH. 

Dr. Cerami has had a successful career applying detailed biochemical insights into understanding the pathogenesis of disease and translating these discoveries into novel therapeutic products that have wide clinical utility. He received his PhD from The Rockefeller University, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and has received three honorary doctorates. Dr. Cerami has been the inventor or co-inventor of more than 150 issued US patents and hundreds of foreign counterparts, including the anti-TNF monoclonal antibody. He is also the inventor of the hemoglobin A1c test that is used by people with diabetes worldwide. "Tony Cerami is a visionary and has conceived of important diagnostic and therapeutic interventions well ahead of their time. His unique perspective, translating his seminal scientific discoveries to pivotal medical advances, has been instrumental in Araim's search for and discovery of the Innate Repair Receptor, which is the basis for our entire platform" said Joe Young, Chief Business Officer of Araim.

About Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical stage drug development company with a novel platform technology designed to address devastating injuries and chronic diseases underserved by current therapies. With their discovery of the Innate Repair Receptor (IRR), Araim has identified the target for activating tissue repair and recovery from inflammatory and other injuries.   Their novel peptide library of IRR specific ligands activates tissue protective, reparative and anti-inflammatory signaling pathways. Araim has an ongoing, active and promising preclinical program in a wide array of conditions involving tissue damage and repair, including neuropathy, cardiovascular damage, diabetes complications, wound healing and aging. Cibinetide is a first-in-class synthetic 11-amino acid peptide IRR agonist. The most advanced clinical program with cibinetide is in sarcoidosis-related small fiber neuropathy (Phase 3, in preparation).  Cibinetide has been granted US and EU Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of sarcoidosis, and has received US Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations for the treatment of neuropathic pain in patients with sarcoidosis.  Cibinetide was granted EU Orphan Medicinal Product designation for prevention of graft loss in pancreatic islet transplantation, and US Orphan Drug Designation for treatment to increase survival and improve functioning of pancreatic islets following transplantation.  A pilot study evaluating the safety and efficacy of cibinetide in diabetic macular edema was recently completed at Queen's University Belfast. www.araimpharma.com

SOURCE Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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