Oct 8 2009
Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Mimetogen"), a privately held drug development company announced today that it has successfully completed an equity financing, co-led by Boston-based VIMAC Milestone Medica Fund and Montréal-based iNovia Capital. The Company has also completed discussions with the FDA concerning both pre-clinical and clinical development of its lead compound to treat dry eye syndrome.
Mimetogen’s lead drug candidate for keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye syndrome), MIM-D3, is a small molecule neurotrophin mimetic acting as a potent mucin secretagogue. The company first reported pre-clinical efficacy data at ARVO, Fort Lauderdale, in May 2009 and subsequently held a pre-IND meeting with the FDA prior to commencing toxicology and safety pharmacology studies.
The equity investment from iNovia and VIMAC will fund development activities for MIM-D3 up to and including the completion of both Phase I safety and tolerability and Phase II proof of concept studies in humans. “The strong preclinical efficacy and toxicology data combined with a well defined clinical development plan has made for an extremely compelling investment opportunity”, noted Garth Cumberlidge, Chief Executive Officer at Mimetogen. “Dry eye is a large and growing market which is ripe for innovative and effective drugs. We are confident that the combination of our strong data coupled with industry interest in this sector creates a unique business opportunity”. In addition to dry eye, Mimetogen is working on a pipeline of drugs in retinitis pigmentosa and dry macular degeneration.
Mimetogen will be discussing this and its other development plans on Thursday, October 8th at 2 pm at the annual BioContact Symposium in Québec City, Canada.
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