RSPR Pharma initiates Phase II clinical trial of oral mast cell inhibitor CRD007 in uncontrolled asthma
Stockholm 2015-12-08
RSPR Pharma AB today announced the initiation of a phase II clinical proof of concept trial of CRD007 in asthma patients not fully controlled by inhaled corticosteroids and long acting beta-agonists (ICS/LABA). The study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind multicenter trial involving up to 200 patients at 15 centers in 3 different countries.
Asthma is an inflammatory condition affecting some 300 million people world-wide. Despite the use of ICS/LABA, only 50% of asthma patients have adequate asthma control, and the socioeconomic burden of uncontrolled asthma is huge.
“There is still a huge medical need for novel therapy in asthma when ICS/LABA is insufficient. Patients and clinicians have a strong preference for oral, safe and effective asthma medicines over inhaled or injectable medications. We believe that RSPR Pharma’s lead compound addresses this need and has a great market potential” says Dr Carl-Johan Dalsgaard, CEO and co-founder of RSPR Pharma.
RSPR Pharma’s proprietary lead compound CRD007 is targeting the mast cells, which play a key role in asthmatic airway inflammation but are not adequately inhibited by corticosteroids.
About RSPR Pharma AB
RSPR Pharma AB is a Swedish private clinical stage company exploring new medical approaches to treat respiratory disease. The major shareholders are HealthCap (co-founder), Forbion Capital Partners of the Netherlands, and Novo Seeds and Sunstone of Denmark.
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Carl-Johan Dalsgaard, CEO of RSPR Pharma AB
Phone +46 709 759 863
About HealthCap
HealthCap is a European venture capital firm investing solely and globally in life sciences. It is one of the larger VC’s within life sciences in Europe, having raised more than EUR 1 billion in seven funds since 1996, invested in 100 companies and taken 34 companies public. HealthCap has over the years backed and built companies developing new treatments for people with life-altering conditions. HealthCap’s investment strategy focuses on diseases with high unmet medical needs and therapies that have the potential to be transformative and change medical practice and the lives of patients suffering these conditions. Over the years the portfolio companies have developed 21 pharmaceutical products to the market. Many of these products, such as Firazyr®, Xofigo®, Tracleer®, are breakthrough therapies helping patients with life-threatening diseases to live better lives. In addition, HealthCap companies have brought more than forty medical device products to market, including innovative treatments such as CoreValve®, Zephyr® and Cerament-G®. These products have generated significant value to many stakeholders, including patients, physicians, society as well as to HealthCap’s investors.
For further information visit www.healthcap.se
About Novo A/S
Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, is responsible for the management of the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which are currently valued at more than USD 30 billion. Novo A/S is a private limited liability company fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Besides being the major shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets.
For further information visit www.novo.dk
About Forbion Capital Partners
Forbion Capital Partners is a dedicated Life Sciences venture capital firm with offices in Naarden, The Netherlands, Munich, Germany and representation in Boston, US. Forbion invests in life sciences companies in drug discovery & development as well as medical device companies addressing substantial unmet medical needs. Forbion’s investment team of ten investment professionals has built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in Rhein Biotech, Crucell, Neutec, Glycart, Borean, Impella, Alantos, Acorda (ACOR), Fovea, Insmed (INSM), PanGenetics, Argenta Discovery, BioVex, Pathway Medical, CircuLite, bluebird bio (BLUE), uniQure (QURE), Argos (ARGS), arGEN-X (ARGX.BR), Santaris, PneumRx, AM-Pharma, Promedior and Dezima. Forbion also operates a joint venture with BioGeneration Ventures, who manage two separate seed and early stage funds focused on Benelux. Including the new fund FCF III, Forbion manages over EUR 635M across six funds. Its investors include the EIF through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA and Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI) facilities and the KFW through the ERP – Venture Capital Fondsfinanzierung facility.
For further information visit www.forbion.com
About Sunstone Capital
Sunstone Capital is an independent venture capital investor founded in 2007 by an international team of industry experts with combined entrepreneurial, operational and financial experience. Sunstone Capital focuses on developing and expanding early-stage Life Science and Technology companies with strong potential to achieve global success in their markets. Sunstone Capital currently manages four Life Science funds and three Technology funds. Within Life Science, Sunstone Life Science Ventures has invested in more than 40 companies in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and diagnostics, and has completed several successful exits and IPOs. Managing total funds of EUR 700 million, Sunstone Capital is one of the largest and most active European venture capital investors.
For further information visit www.sunstone.eu
Source: RSPR_Press_Release_Initiation_Phase_II_2015-12-08
