Addressing unmet health needs.
Enhancing gut and liver health with NCT.
NCT Biomanufacturing.
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NCT: A potential game-changer in liver and gut health and disease.
With its ability to target both metabolic and inflammatory pathways, we believe NCT (N-trans-caffeoyltyramine) represents a revolutionary approach to treating multiple chronic diseases simultaneously.
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By improving mitochondrial health, reducing inflammation, and restoring gut function, NCT could transform the way we manage conditions like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD/MASLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Ongoing research and investment into HNF4α-targeted (Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4α) therapies will be crucial in bringing this groundbreaking treatment to patients worldwide.
Addressing the NCT and HNF4α treatment breakthrough.
NCT is a potent activator of HNF4α, a crucial transcription factor that regulates liver fat metabolism, gut health, and inflammation. Research has demonstrated that activating HNF4α with NCT can reverse fat accumulation, promote fat breakdown (lipophagy), and enhance mitochondrial function in the liver.
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This breakthrough, we believe, has significant implications for conditions such as NAFLD/MASLD, MASH, and IBD, which have ongoing clinical trials to address the current lack of treatments.
NCT's Impact on Liver Health and Fat Metabolism
Scientific studies have shown that HNF4α activation by NCT enhances lipophagy, allowing the liver to break down excess fat more effectively. Key findings include:
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Reduction in liver fat: NCT promotes lipophagy, which helps clear stored fat in liver cells.
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Mitochondrial function improvement: NCT increases mitochondrial mass and energy production, preventing fat accumulation.
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Long-term benefits: Oral administration of NCT appears to promote weight loss and reduces inflammation, addressing key drivers of liver disease progression.
These findings suggest that NCT could be a revolutionary approach to treating NAFLD/MASLD and MASH, which affect millions globally.
NCT's Role in Supporting Gut Health and IBD
Beyond liver health, NCT plays a potentially critical role in maintaining intestinal function and reducing inflammation:
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Restoring gut homeostasis: High-fat diets suppress HNF4α in the intestines, leading to inflammation and compromised gut integrity. NCT appears to reverse this effect.
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IBD treatment potential: NCT appears to increase the expression of key genes involved in gut inflammation, such as Duox2, which is linked to leaky gut problems and inflammation.
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Enhancing Paneth cell function: Paneth cells are essential for gut defense, and NCT appears to restore their ability to produce antimicrobial peptides, strengthening the intestinal barrier.
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These findings position NCT as a promising candidate for IBD therapy, potentially improving the quality of life for millions suffering from this chronic condition.
Why has NCT been scarce in the market?
Despite its promising nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential, NCT remains extremely difficult to produce in commercial quantities due to several key factors:
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Limited natural availability
NCT is a naturally occurring compound, but it is found in very low concentrations in plant sources. In previous studies, NCT has been found in less than 0.9% of the weight of hemp seeds, and hemp seeds constitute less than 8% of an entire hemp plant -- at best, this means that less than 0.03 grams of NCT can be obtained per plant. Extracting and purifying sufficient quantities from plants for research and therapeutic use is challenging and costly.
Historical lack of commercial-scale production
Unlike other bioactive compounds that have established synthetic production methods, large-scale manufacturing of NCT was underdeveloped until NCTx's novel approach, using exozymes.
How exozymes are reshaping multiple markets
The exact pathways inside plants that produce these tiny amounts of naturally occuring NCT have been successfully replicated by NCTx, using exozymes in a cell-free biomanufacturing environment, essentially solving the scarcity bottleneck of plant dependent NCT availability.
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NCTx' exozymes biosolution for NCT production has been exclusively licensed from eXoZymes, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXOZ).
Market Potential and Economic Opportunity
NCT’s broad therapeutic, we believe, potential presents a significant opportunity in addressing major global health challenges:
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NAFLD/MASLD and MASH Market: NAFLD/MASLD affects approximately 100 million people in the U.S. and over 1.9 billion globally. MASH, a more severe form, impacts 16-40 million people in the U.S. and over 300 million worldwide. Given the lack of effective treatments, a significant portion of these patients could benefit from NCT-based therapies.
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Gut Health Market: Around 3.1 million people in the U.S. and more than 4.5 million worldwide suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with prevalence rising in developed countries. Due to the chronic nature of IBD and its impact on quality of life, treatment adoption rates are expected to be high.
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Obesity and Weight Management: If NCT demonstrates efficacy in weight loss, it could be relevant to approximately 132 million people in the U.S. and another 297 million in Europe—totaling over 429 million individuals. This represents one of the largest potential applications for NCT-based therapies.