MARKET AND MEDICAL NEED
With the discovery of the new estrogen beta receptor,  new treatment opportunities in the field of women's health have evolved. Potential indications are cancer, inflammatory disorders and depression which are major and disabling disorders that causes suffering in patients and burden the community with very high costs. Although new treatments have been developed, these are associated with side effects that create a need for new medicines.  It is well known that estrogens have beneficial effects on mood, but the side effects of estrogens limit their use in a broader context. The discovery of the new estrogen receptor beta has opened possibilities for development of new selective compounds with fewer side effects. Depression is an area where ER beta selective agonists may be useful since the ER beta receptor co-localizes in areas in the brain that control mood and feelings of anxiety. The need for new drugs to treat depression is also great since current drugs have a late onset of action and are associated with several adverse effects.

PRODUCT PROFILE
The candidate drug to be selected shall be orally bioavailable and with a high affinity for ER beta in order to avoid ER alpha mediated side effects like uterine stimulation. The compound should also be CNS permissive and exhibit anti-depressive effects.

DEVELOPMENT STATUS
Karo Bio is currently prioritizing development of CNS-active compounds for treatment of depression and proof of principle in animal models for the use of ER beta selective agonists in depression has been obtained. The lead compounds have a high selectivity for ER beta and thereby adverse effects like a stimulation of uterine growth will be minimized. The program is now focusing on improvement of the bioavailability of the lead compounds.