BioScience Today 26

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| BIOSCIENCE TODAY |

| low testosterone|

Acesis breaks new ground with novel therapy solution to low testosterone For the first time in over 70 years, a new testosterone replacement therapy has been unveiled. Dr Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr Costas Karatzas, co-founders of Acesis BioMed, explain how their ‘first-in-class’ peptide therapeutics could transform men’s health across the world. Low testosterone is a widespread clinical problem that affects up to 40% of the world’s male population and is linked to obesity, high blood pressure, infertility and other serious health issues. High prevalence of hypogonadism (~ 40%) has been reported in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. New research has also found that men with low testosterone are more likely to die from COVID-19. Acesis is developing first-in-class non-steroidal oral peptide therapeutics which will induce endogenous testosterone production in testosterone-deficient males. Put simply, they are developing therapies that

instruct the body’s own cells to produce testosterone naturally. All current Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) treatments on the market are exogenous and based on old steroid technology developed in the 1930s. In 2015, potential side effects were flagged up about to their use, including stroke, heart attack, infertility and specific prostate cancer risk. Acesis BioMed believes its product candidates will have a superior safety profile as the body is using its own cells to produce testosterone naturally.

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