Our Differentiated Approach

Current stroke therapies primarily focus on restoring blood flow through thrombolysis or mechanical thrombectomy, while many investigational therapies attempt to protect neurons by crossing the blood-brain barrier. Despite decades of research, these approaches have delivered only limited improvements beyond today’s standard of care.

NovInCell is pursuing a fundamentally different therapeutic strategy.

Instead of targeting the clot or the neurons directly, our selective PI3KC2β inhibitor is designed to reinforce the brain’s vascular system during the most critical phase of stroke: reperfusion. By stabilising the endothelial cells that line cerebral blood vessels, our approach aims to preserve blood-brain barrier integrity, reduce vascular leakage and increase the brain’s resilience to secondary injury.

Mechanistically, PI3KC2β inhibition promotes the localisation of VE-cadherin, the key adhesion protein that holds neighbouring endothelial cells together, at the plasma membrane. Stronger endothelial junctions create a more stable vascular barrier, helping protect brain tissue when it is most vulnerable.

Because our approach acts at the vascular interface rather than inside the brain, it is not designed to rely on crossing the blood-brain barrier. This creates a differentiated therapeutic strategy that has the potential to be used either as a standalone treatment or alongside current standards of care such as thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy.