Victorian consortium invests $2 m into Melbourne Uni spin-off

Melbourne University spin-off Cryptopharma has received a boost with AUD$2 million in funding from a Victorian consortium of investors led by GBS Venture Partners, Biocomm and Uniseed.

The company, which was founded by now-CEO Assoc Prof Alistair Stewart from the department of pharmacology and Dr John Lambert from the department of chemistry (now head of chemistry at Biota) in 2000, is developing novel analogues based on an estrogen-related steroidal backbone with applications for chronic inflammatory diseases of the airways and lungs, including asthma and pulmonary fibrosis.

"At present there are no therapies for these debilitating illnesses beyond those already in use in less severe asthma. Cryptopharma's drug candidates are a novel approach to treat these disorders," said Stewart.

Stewart said the compounds have a different mechanism of action to the corticosteroid-based drugs commonly used to treat asthma and other chronic lung diseases, and act on smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts in the airways and lungs.

The company already has a library of potential lead compounds and related structures, as well as an extensive battery of in vitro assays, and now plans to narrow the field of candidates down.

"Within the next six months, we will select development candidates for more extensive safety testing and preclinical animal studies," said Stewart.

"We have already shown activity of one compound in an asthma model."

Stewart said the company would be looking at a timeline of 18 months or so before it would be ready to begin clinical trials.

The funding for Cryptopharma came from a number of sources including GBS Venture Partners' Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, a $30 million fund raised under the Federal Government's Pre-Seed Fund program, as well as Biocomm's $11.5 million seed capital pool and Uniseed's pre-seed fund.

Previous investments include pre-seed funding from Uniseed in 2002, and a first-round BIF grant.

"Our investors are bringing extensive experience in pharmaceutical development to the board," Stewart said. Each partner in the consortium has representation on the board, and the chairman is former Boron Molecular CEO Phillip Reece.