Balancing vast potential and unmet medical need

Turn’s proprietary ERA™ Platform enables us to develop tailored therapies for an array of age-associated diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people. In many cases, medicine has found ways to treat the symptoms of these degenerative conditions – such as using analgesics to alleviate osteoarthritis pain or corrective lenses or surgery to improve vision. But medicine still has not found a way to cure the underlying diseases.

Turn’s development pipeline is immediately focused on areas that promise the greatest benefit to patients whose medical need is clearly unmet by current science:

Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Damage

Millions of Americans suffer from osteoarthritis and cartilage damage. Typically, people with osteoarthritis experience cartilage damage, a wearing down of the cartilage that cushions the bones. But cartilage can be damaged in other ways, as well. While symptoms can usually be managed, joint damage currently cannot be reversed.

TRN-002 is a formulation to restore the protective cartilage, effectively reversing joint damage and enabling people to resume more active lifestyles. Preclinical results show TRN-002 reduces oxidative stress and inflammation and improves the cell-division cycle and cell expansion.

Immunology

CAR-T cell therapy has proven remarkably effective against certain hematological cancers, particularly in younger patients. Unfortunately, the high price of these drugs has made CAR-T cell therapy a treatment of last resort, especially for the aging. Two major contributors to the cost of CAR-T therapies are the processes necessary to produce persistent efficacy in the drug and the fact that T-cell exhaustion reduces their ability to fight and kill the patient’s cancer cells. TRN-010 can address both issues. It can be simply added to any CAR-T manufacturing process to epigenetically reprogram patients’ T cells, resulting in a younger functional state that prevents T-cell exhaustion and produces higher potency. Rejuvenating T cells and reducing cellular exhaustion have the potential to make CAR-T cell therapy available to more patients, older patients and at a decreased cost.

Preclinical results show that TRN-010 treatment can significantly increase the ability of T-cells to proliferate and kill cancer cells, potentially by a factor of five. This suggests increased potency and higher tolerability for patients.

Ophthalmology

Age-related ocular degenerative diseases, particularly those of the ocular surface and cornea, are extremely common. For example, about 16 million American adults have been diagnosed with dry eye disease, though studies suggest the condition is often undiagnosed. Some 11 million Americans suffer from age-related macular degeneration, and the number rises to 170 million worldwide. Over three million Americans suffer from glaucoma, and the global number is expected to exceed 111 million by 2040.

TRN-003 is a formulation to treat glaucoma. TRN-004 is a formulation to rejuvenate ocular tissues, including corneal, limbus and conjunctival epithelial cells and corneal endothelial cells. Preclinical results show TRN-004 reduces inflammation and oxidative stress and reduces cell senescence.

Musculature

The body’s muscles are under constant stress. Muscle injuries represent about half of all sports medicine injuries, but muscle damage is not limited to athletes. Millions of people suffer from muscle injuries, atrophy, frailty and age-related sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength.

TRN-005 is a unique formulation to restore muscle mass and strength, and reverse age-related conditions that compromise people’s ability to lead active lifestyles. Preclinical results demonstrate improvement in stem cell growth and differentiation, acceleration of muscle recovery, increases in fiber thickness and force output. And, what is particularly promising, TRN-005-treated muscles appear to be more resistant to later injuries.