Savant HWP Inc. Information

Savant HWP, Inc., (“Savant” or “Company”) is an emerging clinical-stage company focused on unmet medical needs in addiction medicine and obesity. Savant’s novel approach targets the dopamine “reward” pathway in the brain that drives pleasure-seeking behaviors associated with addiction and obesity. Targeting the brain’s central reward pathway enables Savant to develop drug candidates potentially effective against all forms of pleasure seeking behavior. Data from animal models demonstrate the efficacy of Savant’s approach in a broad array of substance addictions, including cocaine, opiate, methamphetamine, nicotine and alcohol and in obesity. Savant’s lead compound, 18-MC, is an orally active, α3β4 nicotinic receptor antagonist that modulates dopamine fluctuations in the mesolimbic system of the brain and prevents drug abuse in animal addiction models. The α3β4 nicotinic receptor has recently been validated as an anti-addiction drug target with independent confirmation that polymorphisms in the α5α3β4 gene cluster on chromosome 15 are predictive of heavy smoking and severe nicotine dependence. 18-MC enters human clinical trials in early 2011. Savant’s approach is unique in addiction medicine. Current medications are either agonists or antagonist for the addictive substance’s primary receptor site of action (such as methadone for heroin addiction, low doses of nicotine for nicotine addiction and naltrexone for opiate dependence) and are themselves often dangerous and addictive. These types of receptor strategies do not directly target the underlying addictive mechanism in the brain - fluctuations of dopamine in the mesolimbic system leading to drug craving - which are targeted by Savant’s approach.