PHARMA TECH
Sirona Biochem Corp. | November 28, 2022
Sirona Biochem Corp. announces that, subsequent to the LOI, Sirona and Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals have signed an expanded, international partnership agreement to collaborate on licencing Sirona’s SGLT2 inhibitor, TFC-039, as a pharmaceutical treatment in both animal and human health. The agreement adds human health to the partnership as a result of new licencing opportunities currently in due diligence.
Wanbang and Sirona initially signed a licensing agreement for TFC-039, whereby Wanbang obtained the rights to develop the compound as a diabetes treatment in China and Sirona retained the global rights. Sirona has since been in discussions with animal health companies to advance TFC-039 as a treatment for diabetes and chronic kidney disease in companion animals. SGLT2 inhibitors provide an opportunity to treat inflicted animals with an oral medication as opposed to the traditional method of daily insulin injections. More recently, Sirona has entered into due diligence with a large pharmaceutical company with a regional interest in developing the compound for human diabetes.
Together, Sirona and Wanbang share extensive knowledge and scientific results of TFC-039. Partnering will significantly increase the speed to third-party partnerships and commercialization. The shared data spans over 12 years of research and development, and includes in vitro and in vivo preclinical work, multiple clinical studies, advanced manufacturing process development and the ability to commercially manufacture TFC-039.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Wanbang and are excited to combine our two companies’ expertise to license TFC-039. Wanbang has invested millions of dollars into the clinical stage research and development of the manufacturing processes for TFC-039. These pieces of data are critical to large organizations and will greatly increase the opportunities to move forward. The probability of a successful licensing agreement has been made much stronger by leveraging our alliance with Wanbang. We have had a successful year building Sirona’s pipeline, with positive movement on all projects and we’re looking forward to continuing this success with our SGLT2 inhibitor as well as our antiviral and anti-aging projects in 2023.”
Dr. Howard Verrico, CEO
About Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals and Fosun Pharmaceuticals
Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals develops, manufactures, and markets drugs with indications for chronic disease treatment, antibiotics, and other endocrine diseases in China. Founded in 1981, the company is headquartered in Xuzhou, China, and is a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group. Fosun is a leader in the pharmaceutical industry and is regarded as one of the top five domestic pharmaceutical companies in China.
About Sirona Biochem Corp.
Sirona Biochem is a cosmetic ingredient and drug discovery company with a proprietary platform technology. Sirona specializes in stabilizing carbohydrate molecules with the goal of improving efficacy and safety. New compounds are patented for maximum revenue potential.
Sirona’s compounds are licensed to leading companies around the world in return for licensing fees, milestone fees and ongoing royalty payments. Sirona’s laboratory, TFChem, is located in France and is the recipient of multiple French national scientific awards and European Union and French government grants.
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BUSINESS INSIGHTS, PHARMACY MARKET
Cellworks Group | January 13, 2023
Cellworks Group Inc., a pioneer in personalized therapy biosimulation, announced the introduction of its precision drug development business units.
These units will use predictive biosimulation to shorten drug development time-to-market and revive previously researched but disapproved pharmaceutical assets.
The two new business units will use Cellworks' computational biology model (CBM) and biosimulation platform to predict responses to pharmaceutical interventions in silico, streamlining the clinical trial by identifying suitable patients more quickly, thereby reducing the time and cost of developing successful pharmaceutical agents.
Cellworks precision drug development: Pre-clinical stage
Companion molecule development: The Cellworks platform can augment a drug's usability by finding companion molecules that improve performance when combined with the investigational agent.
Biomarker development: Cellworks utilizes cell lines and historical patient data to uncover novel biomarkers for investigational agents. This may increase drug success rates by proactively identifying individuals who will respond to an agent.
Indication expansion: By utilizing the Cellworks patient database of 100,000+ omics patient profiles and 1,800 oncology cell lines to examine the agent's effectiveness in different indications, the Cellworks platform can identify additional indications where an experimental treatment may be successful.
Cellworks precision drug development: Clinical stage
Drug revival and repurposing: The platform seeks to anticipate whether certain drugs cause a response, which may be used to identify whether shelved assets can be resurrected via suitable patient selection or the discovery of non-obvious reasons.
Clinical trial biosimulation: Through biosimulation clinical trials, the Cellworks platform may anticipate humans' clinical response to pharmaceutical agents in weeks, yielding critical insight years ahead of a traditional clinical practice.
Cellworks Platform and Computational Biology Model (CBM)
The Cellworks platform biosimulates the impact of specific pharmacological molecules on a given patient or class of patients using the patient's genetic profile. To generate a customized or cohort-specific disease model, multi-omic data from a cohort or patient is fed into the Cellworks computational biology model (CBM).
About Cellworks Group
Cellworks is one of the leaders in precision medicine. The organization assists physicians and payers in navigating the most efficacious, cost-effective therapies for patients. Its primary therapeutic areas are oncology, immunology, dermatology, and infectious diseases. Its one-of-a-kind biosimulation platform is a unified representation of biological information gathered from disparate databases and used to find cures. The company has the world's strongest trans-disciplinary team of molecular biologists, cellular pathway modelers, and internet software technologists working towards a common goal, i.e., taking on significant diseases to improve patients' lives.
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PHARMA TECH
Eyenovia, Inc. | November 30, 2022
Eyenovia, Inc. a pre-commercial ophthalmic technology company developing the Optejet® delivery system for use both in combination with its own drug-device therapeutic programs for mydriasis, presbyopia and pediatric progressive myopia as well as out-licensing for additional indications, announced that the company has entered into a $15 million credit facility with the Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. The financing is intended to support manufacturing in anticipation of a MydCombi launch and clinical supply for ongoing programs.
Per the terms of the agreement, Eyenovia received $10 million of gross proceeds at closing. The additional $5 million will be available, at the company’s option, should MydCombi™ be approved for marketing in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration by August 2023. The Avenue facility replaces the company’s Silicon Valley Bank facility, which was recently paid off.
“We are pleased to have the support of Avenue through this credit facility at terms which create minimal dilution as compared to a traditional equity capital raise. Together with our existing cash on-hand, we expect the additional capital provided by this facility to fund our operations through at least late 2023 or early 2024, or through value creating milestones, including the potential approval of MydCombi™ and preparations for the possible submission of a New Drug Application for our novel presbyopia treatment, MicroLine™.”
Michael Rowe, chief executive officer of Eyenovia
“We are pleased to provide this financing to Eyenovia as we believe its Optejet dispensing technology truly differentiates the company from its peers and offers great potential across a broad range of high value ophthalmic indications,” stated Chad Norman, Senior Portfolio Manager of the Avenue Venture Debt Fund.
Eyenovia’s current pro-forma unrestricted cash balance, including approximately $9.5 million of net proceeds from this facility, is approximately $25.5 million.
About Eyenovia, Inc.
Eyenovia, Inc. is an ophthalmic pharmaceutical technology company developing a pipeline of microdose array print therapeutics. Eyenovia is currently focused on the late-stage development of microdosed medications for mydriasis, presbyopia and myopia progression.
About Avenue Venture Opportunities
The Avenue Venture Debt Fund seeks to provide creative financing solutions to high-growth, venture capital-backed technology and life science companies. The Avenue Venture Debt Opportunities Fund focuses generally on companies within the underserved segment of the market created by the widening financing gap between commercial banks and larger debt funds. The Avenue Venture Debt fund is part of the larger group of funds of Avenue Capital Group. For additional information on Avenue Capital Group, which is a global investment firm with assets estimated to be approximately $12.3 billion as of October 31, 2022.
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