Hypogen Information

Hypogen, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel diagnostic tests and new therapeutics for essential hypertension. Hypertension is the worlds most prevalent disease, affecting more than 25 percent of the population, and continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports that more than 30 percent of Americans with hypertension are unaware that they have high blood pressure, and less than 25 percent of those with hypertension actually have their condition controlled by prescription medications. As a result, it is estimated that more that 50 million people in the United States alone stand to benefit from improved diagnostic methods and more effective therapies. Hypogens mission is to meet this need. Hypogen has discovered and characterized a proprietary set of gene polymorphisms that it believes are largely responsible for the pathogenesis of essential hypertension and salt sensitivity. These single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), by themselves or via an interaction with genes controlling the renin-angiotensin system, have a strong positive association with essential hypertension across racial and ethnic subpopulations, including Ghanaians, Caucasian Americans, Japanese, and Italians. Furthermore, Hypogen has successfully isolated and immortalized human cells expressing the GRK4 gene variants, as well as expressed the genes both in vitro (i.e., in transfected cells) and in vivo (creating the first transgenic hypertensive mouse model expressing specific genes that cause these mice to become either hypertensive or salt sensitive). These novel drug discovery tools promise to eliminate two of the primary bottlenecks in the search for new antihypertensive drugs. Armed with the knowledge of the specific mechanisms responsible for the disease, Hypogens first objective is to provide the clinical and research communities with a more accurate method for diagnosing essential hypertension. As currently practiced, diagnosis is ...