OMEICOS Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases including atrial fibrillation, today announced the approval of an approximately €1.7 million grant by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The grant covers half of the investment needed to advance an OMEICOS’ research project with the other half coming from the funds secured in a Series A round from an investor consortium including Vesalius Biocaptial II S.A. SICAR, a SMS Group company, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, Hightech Gruenderfonds II GmbH & Co. KG (HTGF) and KfW Group earlier this year. The project will facilitate further research activities into OMEICOS’ novel approach to treat atrial fibrillation using orally available small molecule drug candidates and to explore their potential in other areas of high unmet medical need.
OMEICOS’ novel therapeutic approach is based on the discovery of highly potent synthetic analogues of natural-occurring omega-3 fatty acid metabolites which activate a novel endogenous organ-protective pathway. The drug candidates show beneficial pharmacological activity in preclinical models, including the ability to protect normal sinus rhythm in hearts prone to develop arrhythmia. OMEICOS’ drug candidates are metabolically much more stable than their natural counterparts and have ideal drug-like characteristics. These properties suggest that they can be delivered orally as therapeutics which, together with the novel mode of action, promises a significant improvement in the treatment of patients.
“With this additional funding secured, we feel well positioned to achieve our three main objectives within the 18 months’ project runtime: to complete the preclinical package for our lead development candidate, to extend our research into its unique mode of action and to explore new therapeutic opportunities for our platform technology,” commented Dr. Robert Fischer, CSO and co-founder of OMEICOS.
“This renewed support from the German government further acknowledges the excellent research by OMEICOS’ team and its collaborators and the potential of our novel approach. In combination with the funding received as part of the Ascenion Spinnovator program today’s news brings the total amount of grant money we were able to secure so far to roughly €2.2 million,” Dr. Ulrich Dauer, CEO of OMEICOS added.
About Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in humans. AF is characterized by an irregular heart rhythm originating from the heart’s upper chambers, resulting in inefficient blood pumping. AF leads to a significant reduction in quality of life, increases the risk of stroke, raises the risk of heart failure, and doubles the risk of death.
About OMEICOS
OMEICOS Therapeutics is a spin-off company from the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin. The company has discovered a series of metabolically robust synthetic analogues of omega-3 fatty acid-derived epoxyeicosanoids, that have the potential to treat inflammatory, cardiovascular, and other diseases. Epoxyeicosanoids as a newly described class of bioactive lipid mediators activate cell type-specific endogenous pathways that promote organ and tissue protection. OMEICOS’ small molecules are orally available and show improved biological activity and pharmacokinetic properties compared to their natural counterparts. OMEICOS’ technology is based on ground-breaking scientific results in the field of omega-3 fatty acid metabolism and physiology obtained by the companies’ founders Drs. Wolf-Hagen Schunck, John. R. Falck, Dominik Müller and Robert Fischer. www.omeicos.com
Contact
OMEICOS Therapeutics GmbH
Dr. Ulrich Dauer, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Dr. Robert Fischer, Chief Scientific Officer and Managing Director
Phone: +49 (0) 30 9489 4810
E-Mail: u.dauer@omeicos.com , r.fischer@omeicos.com
www.omeicos.com
Media requests
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Gretchen Schweitzer or Mario Brkulj
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2423 3494 or +49 175 5010575
E-Mail: mbrkulj@macbiocom.com
