Startups, BioPharma

Wisconsin startup testing shelved Bristol-Myers Squibb cancer drug tanespimycin

The company's lead drug, Triolimus, received FDA orphan designation last April.

CO-DThe first fundraise is on the books for Co-D Therapeutics – a promising University of Wisconsin-Madison spinout that combines three existing drugs, including paclitaxel, and changes their functionality with a unique drug delivery system.

Its lead drug, Triolimus, received FDA orphan status to treat angiosarcoma – a blood vessel cancer – this past April. It just raised a small $145,000 debt round, according to a regulatory filing.

Triolimus combines common chemotherapeutic paclitaxel with anti-cancer immunosuppressant rapamycin and antibiotic derivative tanespimycin, which has been studied for its efficacy in treating cancer. Notably, in Bristol-Myers Squibb was testing tanespimycin in Phase 3 trials for multiple myeloma – but halted all development of the drug. Part of the reason was due to impending patent expiries and the difficulty in producing the drugs.

The company says it can overcome any difficulties incurred from these drugs – particularly tanespmycin – by offering a unique drug delivery mechanism. It uses what it calls a polymeric micelle/combination delivery system – which encapsulates hard-to-deliver cancer drugs in a lipid molecule.

“In the case of both tanespimycin and rapamycin, expensive synthetic alternatives were developed to overcome formulation problems due to the promise these agents hold in cancer treatment,” Co-D says on its website. “Triolimus overcomes all of these delivery challenges with a safe, simple polymeric micelle formulation.”

 

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