Archive: Company News

Company News: Aleva Neurotherapeutics Closes EUR 9.5 Million Series A Financing Round

– Novel Products for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) to Be Advanced Into the Clinic –

Aleva Neurotherapeutics, a company developing next-generation implants for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in major neurological indications such as Parkinson´s disease or depression, today announced the closing of a Series A financing round totaling EUR 9.5 million. Aleva was founded in 2008 as a spin-off from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Microsystems Laboratory.

The round was funded by a group of seasoned industry specialists and co-led by BioMedInvest AG (managed by BioMedPartners AG, Basel, Switzerland) and BB BIOTECH VENTURES III, L.P. (advised by Bellevue Asset Management AG, Kuesnacht, Switzerland). Initiative Capital Romandie (Lausanne, Switzerland) and renowned private investors also participated in the financing.

The proceeds will be used to support the development of Aleva’s pioneering product pipeline for neurostimulation, which is based on the company’s proprietary microDBS™ technology. microDBS™ is a next-generation technology addressing Deep Brain Stimulation therapy, currently a US$ 450 million market with strong double-digit growth rates.

Aleva’s microDBS™ technology for target-specific stimulation has been developed to significantly reduce the side effects and potential complications as well as the costs of DBS therapy. Moreover, its features allow for expanding the existing DBS market to new indications which cannot be addressed by currently available technologies.

The company is developing three products based on its microDBS™ technology: directSTIM™, an intelligent electrode compatible with existing DBS platforms; spiderSTIM™, a full solution for both intra-surgical and long-term therapeutic use; and the cortiSTIM™ device for cortical stimulation. All products will be compatible with marketed pulse generators. Clinical trials of the lead product, directSTIM™, are scheduled to start later this year.

Company News: SuppreMol Employs Protagen Biomarkers in SLE Study

SuppreMol GmbH, a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and allergies, and Protagen AG, a specialist in in-vitro diagnostics and GMP-compliant protein analysis, today announced a collaboration to identify therapy-related biomarkers in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

SuppreMol will use the biomarkers for the rapid identification of autoantibody signatures in the serum of SLE patients enrolled in the current phase IIa study of its lead product SM101. Thereby, the company hopes to identify patients who are most likely to respond favorable to SM101. Since SLE is a disease with very diverse manifestations, the findings may also allow for the classification of patients into subgroups .

Financial details of the collaboration are not disclosed. The cooperation as well as SuppreMol’s phase IIa SLE study are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Leading Edge Cluster m4.

Company News: Scil Technology Establishes Independent Service Unit formycon

Scil Technology GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company with core expertise in protein drug development, formulation and analytics, today announced the establishment of an independent service unit named formycon. formycon offers services for external customers focusing on formulation development, drug product manufacturing and process development, as well as quality control and analytics. Scil Technology’s long-standing track record in protein development enables formycon to support its customers with key activities such as protein characterization, preformulation, formulation development and drug product production as well as analytics under GMP and non-GMP conditions (including analytical method development).

In addition to liquid and freeze dried formulations, formycon also offers liposomal and specialty formulations, e.g. for topical and local administration – an area which distinguishes formycon from most other service providers worldwide. Therefore, formycon´s core strengths lie in the combination of a broad range of formulation types with comprehensive knowledge of regulatory processes and excellent analytics according to GMP standards and the requirements outlined by the ICH and pharmacopoeias.

formycon is operating on a fee for service basis and employs a staff of 20. The unit is licensed and GMP-certified as an analytical laboratory.

Company News: CYTAVIS’ Aviscumine Improves Survival of Patients with Metastatic Melanoma in a Phase II Trial

CYTAVIS BioPharma GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing derivatives of natural compounds for the treatment of oncological and immunological diseases, today announced Phase II data demonstrating that its lead compound Aviscumine (CY503), an immune potentiator, may improve survival of patients with refractory metastatic melanoma (stage IV).

The open-label Phase II multicenter trial (NCT00658437) was designed to test the influence of subcutaneous injections of Aviscumine (CY503) on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with unresectable metastatic melanoma (stage IV) after antineoplastic treatment failure. The trial included 31 eligible patients and was conducted at four German sites.

The progression-free survival rate after 3 months was 32.3%, while the 1-year-survival rate was 45.0% and median overall survival time (mOS) 11 months in the full analysis set/intention to treat population (FAS/ITT). In case of the standard therapy with Dacarbazine the 1-year-survival rate is usually about 30% and the mOS between 6 and 8 months, respectively. The majority of treatment-related adverse events were not severe application site reactions and pruritus.

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