iCo signs collaboration development agreement with CPDD
2009-09-24 07:29 MT - News Release
Dr. John Clement reports
ICO THERAPEUTICS SIGNS COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH THE CONSORTIUM FOR PARASITIC DRUG DEVELOPMENT
iCo Therapeutics Inc. has signed a collaboration development agreement with the Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development (CPDD) for the research and development of iCo's oral drug delivery technology for the treatment of neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis. Initial financing of $182,930 (U.S.) will be provided for formulation optimization for tropical conditions.
"iCo Therapeutics, in partnership with CPDD and employing a proprietary drug delivery system licensed from the University of British Columbia, is committed to improving the health of millions afflicted with visceral leishmaniasis worldwide, ultimately saving thousands of lives," stated Andrew Rae, president and chief executive officer of iCo Therapeutics. "iCo is extremely pleased to acknowledge the support and assistance of CPDD in furthering iCo's efforts in this area. We feel our collaboration creates a win-win situation for all parties involved."
The proprietary drug delivery technology allows iCo to reformulate select parenteral administered drugs for oral delivery with the goal of greatly improving access to care and expanding the targeted markets, while at the same time retaining all rights to iCo-009 and the significant anti-fungal and additional markets the drug may one day serve.
"CPDD's parasitic expertise and iCo's drug development acumen are highly complementary," stated Dr. Donald Buell, MD, an infectious disease expert and member of iCo's scientific advisory board. "This oral delivery technology has the potential to create a breakthrough in the treatment of neglected diseases."
iCo has demonstrated proof of concept of the delivery technology with Amphotericin B, a potent anti-fungal and anti-parasitic drug with over 50 years of clinical history. Amphotericin B is currently only available via intravenous formulations for the treatment of systemic fungal and parasitic infections, which can have safety issues including infusion-related side effects and potential kidney toxicity. In animal models, oral administration of iCo's oral Amphotericin B has shown significant anti-fungal and anti-parasitic activity with no observable kidney toxicity as assessed histologically and by plasma creatinine concentrations. The oral drug delivery technology was invented by Dr. Kishor and Dr. Ellen Wasan at the University of British Columbia. (UBC). Dr. John Clement (iCo) and Dr. Kishor Wasan (UBC) are co-principal investigators on the project.
About the CPDD
The CPDD is a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grantee, developing drugs for the treatment of neglected diseases. Since the year 2000, Richard R. Tidwell, PhD, the director of CPDD, has been awarded $58.5-million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new drugs to fight human African trypanosomiasis or HAT (sleeping sickness) and leishmaniasis, two neglected diseases that are infecting and killing millions of people in developing countries. For more information on the CPDD please visit its website.
About visceral leishmaniasis
In addition to treating systemic fungal infections in the developed world, iCo's oral drug delivery technology has the potential to be used in treating visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a parasite contracted by approximately two million people each year, with 12 million presently infected worldwide. If left untreated, VL can have a fatality rate of 100 per cent within two years. Approximately 50,000 people die from VL each year. iCo and CPPD previously collaborated on a series of VL studies in which dosages of iCo's oral Amphotericin B resulted in greater than 99-per-cent eradication of the parasitic infection associated with VL.
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