10 Nov 2005 - Cryptome Pharmaceuticals Ltd will receive more than $850,000 from Dairy Australia over the next three years to conduct research that could unlock hidden pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals in milk proteins. In-house expertise, state-of-the-art R&D facilities, and an international network of collaborators will enable Cryptome to identify and characterise novel proteins and fragments of proteins (crypteins). These could provide health benefits, as well as nutritional benefits, and potentially be used by the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical markets.
Cryptome's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Vic L. Ilag said discoveries in this area could potentially help manage cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic inflammatory disorders. "This is a valuable and exciting project coming just at the right time. To date, most bioactive peptides have been derived from casein and whey. The uniqueness of our approach will be to look at other milk proteins, including proteins of low abundance. For this latter group, Cryptome will be using the expertise of one of its American collaborators, Prof. Bill Hancock, at the Barnett Institute (Northeastern University) in Boston. This contract is a vote of confidence in our technology," Dr Ilag said.
Milk products are known to be fertile sources of bioactive material. Several examples of bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins already have been identified with clinically-relevant activities including anti-coagulants and anti-cancer compounds.
Milk is an economical source of high-value protein, whereas therapeutic proteins are typically expensive to produce. It is reasonable to assume that demand for useful peptides from milk, whether pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals, would be likely to be measured in the hundreds or even thousands of kilograms.
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