Australian start-up targets diseases resulting from unhealthy lifestyles

A new company has been founded in Australia with the aim of developing new therapies to target conditions relating to an unhealthy Western diet, including serious and highly prevalent diseases associated with obesity.

Cincera Therapeutics, a spin-out of the University of South Australia and SA Pathology’s Centre for Cancer Biology, and Monash University’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Melbourne, will initially focus on treatments for the emerging epidemic of a liver disease termed ‘NASH’ (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis).

The company has been launched with a A$7 million ($5.5 million) venture capital commitment from Australia’s Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).