Antisense wins $1.1m Start grant for psoriasis project

Melbourne company Antisense Therapeutics has won a $AUD1.1 million R&D Start grant, in the first round of funding awarded since the Federal government reopened the program late last year.

The funding will be put toward the company's psoriasis project. ATL1101 is an antisense drug developed at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute to inhibit the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-1R), a protein implicated in regulating the excessive skin cell growth characteristic of the disease.

Antisense CEO Mark Diamond said that the psoriasis project was progressing well. The company will the Start funding to matching funds it was required to provide to qualify for a grant, primarily to complete the pre-clinical package prior to committing to clinical trials. Antisense raised $4.5 million in a share placement in December last year.

According to Diamond, further animal and laboratory tests to determine the efficacy of the treatment will be needed, as well as optimisation of the proposed cream formulation, before a decision is made on clinical trials for the psoriasis drug. He said that the company expected the pre-clinical work to be completed by the middle of 2004.

The announcement of a key pre-clinical efficacy milestone for the project is also expected before the end of the month, Diamond said.

At the time of writing, Antisense's share price (ASX: ANP) had risen 11 per cent to $AUD0.07.