SIRTRIS TO PRESENT AT FIRST ANNUAL BOSTON BIOTECH R&D CONFERENCE

NCEs Are Structurally Unrelated to and Up to 1,000 Times More Potent Than Resveratrol

CAMBRIDGE, MA [October 17, 2008] – Sirtris, a GSK company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, today announced that it will provide an update on the Company's clinical and preclinical progress at the 2008 Boston Biotech R&D Conference on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at Harvard Medical School.

Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Sirtris, a GSK company, will provide an update on the Company’s lead new chemical entity (NCE) SIRT1 activator, SRT2104. Sirtris' first NCE is currently being tested in a Phase 1a clinical trial to assess safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of SRT2104, which is structurally unrelated to and up to 1,000 times more potent than resveratrol. Following Nature papers in 2006 and 2007 by Sirtris and academic collaborators showing lifespan extension with SIRT1 activators, and therapeutic effects in animal models of diabetes, data showing extension of healthy lifespan with an NCE will be presented. The presentation will be made at 5:40 p.m. (ET) on October 22.

“We look forward to sharing the progress of our NCE program with the Boston biotech research community,” said Dr. Westphal. “Last November in the journal Nature, we reported the identification of NCEs that lower glucose and improve insulin sensitivity in preclinical models of Type 2 Diabetes. We’re excited about the promising preliminary data from this clinical trial and the potential of this drug candidate as a therapy for metabolic diseases and diseases of aging.”

SIRT1 is the founding member and the most widely studied of the sirtuins (SIRT 1-7), a family of enzymes that appear to control various aspects of aging and disease. In 2006, Sirtris scientists and David Sinclair, Ph.D., Sirtris C...

Long-Term Study of Middle-Aged Mice Shows Resveratrol Improves Health and Mimics Some Benefits of Dietary Restriction

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 3, 2008 -- Sirtris, a GlaxoSmithKline company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, is included among a research team that reported in today’s online edition of Cell Metabolism that mice treated at middle-age to the end-of-life with resveratrol showed an overall health improvement, including improved bone health, a reduction in cataracts and cardiovascular dysfunction, and improved balance and motor coordination.

“In this study, we wanted to determine whether or not resveratrol, which imparts many of the same health benefits as caloric restriction in mice, does so by inducing a physiology similar to dietary restriction,” says study co-author David Sinclair, Ph.D., a Sirtris co-founder and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Pathology.  “The data show that resveratrol does induce many similar pathways,” says Sinclair, who is co-chair of Sirtris’ Scientific Advisory Board.  The study was co-led by Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D. at the National Institute on Aging and David Sinclair.

The research team began testing of mice at one year, the mouse equivalent of middle-age, as that is when a small molecule drug mimicking dietary restriction might be given to humans.

The mice were placed on different diets: a standard diet (SD); every-other-day feeding (EOD); and a high-calorie diet (HC).  Mice in each dietary regime were divided into treated and untreated subgroups, with some not receiving resveratrol and others receiving different dosage levels of resveratrol.

The study showed that resveratrol induces gene expression patterns in multiple tissues that parallel those induced by dietary restriction, a diet known to slow aging and extend lifespan in rodents and dogs.  The study also found a significant increase in lifespan in both the resveratrol treated group on a high-calorie diet and the resveratrol treated group on a calorie ...