Novapep Pty Ltd is pleased to announce it recently closed the first $450k of its latest $600k equity funding round.  The investment was led by a syndicate of Sydney Angels members for $250k, with previous investors including the University of Sydney contributing the balance.

 

Novapep is a pre-clinical stage Australian/US biotech company developing a novel peptide, biparetide, to treat inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cerebral malaria; diseases which afflict many people around the world. Biparetide is being developed as a prescription drug for treating these diseases as it is stable and suitable for topical and oral use.  It avoids the side-effects of existing therapies, which may enable patients to use it continuously to achieve lasting relief.

 

Biparetide was invented, patented, and licensed exclusively to Novapep by co-founder Professor John Griffin of the Scripps Research Institute in the USA.  Biparetide is a mimetic of 3K3A-Activated Protein C (APC), an earlier invention of Professor Griffin, that is commencing a Phase 3 trial for treating stroke, supported by ~US$44 million of National Institutes of Health grants.  A Phase 2 trial of APC for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is also nearing completion. The progress of APC suggests a good outcome for biparetide, which is expected to be 20 times cheaper than APC and applicable to more diseases.

 

The funds raised by Novapep in this current equity round will be used to complete pre-clinical studies of biparetide by global experts in each of the following fields:

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease:  Professor Silvio Danese (San Raffaele, Milan) is undertaking a dextran sulphate sodium anti-inflammatory study and Professor Stuart Brierley (Flinders University) is undertaking two trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid studies (one anti-inflammatory and one analgesic).

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Skin Indications:  Professor Chris Jackson (University of Sydney and the Kolling Institute of Medical Research) is undertaking a study of biparetide in atopic dermatitis.  

 

Parties interested in the potential of biparetide should contact Jay Hennock, CEO of Novapep Pty Ltd, for further information at jay.hennock@novapep.com.