Singapore, 4 January 2016 – Verita Healthcare Group (Verita), through its wholly owned subsidiary Verita Biotech Ltd, has acquired a 51% equity stake in MRG & Associates Ltd owner of a global patent portfolio for Mechano Growth Factor (MGF) which covers both cardiac and muscle use which has the potential to be developed into a marketable and effective drug for skeletal muscle wastage and cardiac muscle damage.

The MGF patent portfolio owned by MRG & Associates has been valued independently by BDO UK at 40.0 million pounds sterling.

BACKGROUND

Mechano Growth Factor was discovered and patented by Professor Goldspink who has held 7 professorial seats including UCL and Harvard. As part of his work he has studied muscle loss and wasting diseases based upon the common knowledge that young people’s muscles repair much more quickly than in the elderly.

Professor Goldspink has 3 dedicated decades of his life to the research of muscle wastage and related conditions. He believes that MGF has a wide application and continues to support its development into a long term viable muscular rebuilding and regeneration drug in other tissues.

Professor Goldspink’s team cloned the gene which is the product of a natural substance called IGF-I, a growth factor, which is then naturally “spliced” to yield 3 different types of proteins, one of which he called Mechano Growth Factor (MGF) as it is produced when cells are under mechanical strain and following tissue damage.
MGF was found to activate muscle stem cells to replicate and fuse with the existing muscle fibres needed for muscle repair.

There are a number of potential uses of MGF including:

(1) Skeletal muscle, with an application for conditions associated with muscle wasting such as muscular dystrophy and age-related sarcopenia. (Subject of a granted patent)

(2) Cardiac muscle, with the main potential being for conditions such as myocardial infarction. (Subject of a granted patent)

(3) Neuronal uses, with a potential repair application ( as yet, no patent in place)

The potential applications of MGF are significant. Preliminary indications and studies suggest that the use of MGF may assist in a number of ailments that are based on a deterioration of muscle or cardiac damage.

MGF is derived from the Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), which occurs naturally in the body, by alternative splicing. It was discovered that MGF kick-starts hypertrophy and starts the repair of local muscle damage by activating muscle stem cells.
In old age or certain diseases there is a marked loss in the ability to express MGF in which case the cells are not adequately replenished.

MGF is currently being used without licence by humans for performance enhancement including members of the body building community. It is however on the World Anti-doping Agency list of banned substances when administered as a peptide to increase muscle strength.

A primary interest in MGF lies in its use for cardiac patients. Tests have already been carried out on animals who have had myocardial infarctions and the MGF treated animals showed 35% less compromised muscle after 8 days.