On January 18, 2018 Cytovation AS, a privately held biotech company developing CyPep-H1 for the treatment of cutaneous warts, reported that it has raised NOK 10m in a private funding round, completing the second stage of fundraising, having raised NOK 20m in June 2017 (Press release, Cytovation, JAN 18, 2018, View Source [SID1234561560]). Both financings were led by a group of private investors in Norway and the Company will now use these funds to advance lead product CyPep-H1 through the final stages of pre-clinical development and into and through a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in patients with warts caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV).
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Cytovation is developing CyPep-H1 as a topical formulation of its proprietary lytic peptide, CyPep. CyPep is a highly-stable, purpose-engineered peptide, consisting of 27 amino acids, that selectively targets transformed or infected cells, destroying the cell membrane and killing the cells. The release of antigens from the lysed cells also triggers an immune response against the diseased cells, providing the possibility of long-term protection against warts.
The mode-of-action of CyPep presents a completely novel strategy to treat this common and potentially debilitating condition. Based on this mechanism, the Company believes that CyPep can have a number of applications in dermatological diseases, with CyPep-H1, for the treatment of cutaneous warts, being the first candidate under development. The Company is also investigating the potential of CyPep-derived peptides for the treatment of certain cancers.
Cytovation’s CEO, Kjell Inge Arnevig, commented on the financing: "The completion of this final tranche of fundraising now enables Cytovation to move through toxicology studies and formulation and into our planned Phase I/IIa clinical trial for CyPep-H1. We expect initial results from this study late 2018 and are confident that they will confirm the potential of this novel treatment approach for the many largely unsatisfied patients globally, who suffer from cutaneous warts."