14 Dec Complix receives €0.5 million grant to further develop its pipeline of proprietary Cell Penetrating Alphabodies™ against intracellular cancer targets
Hasselt, December 14, 2017 – Complix, a biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of transformative Cell Penetrating Alphabody™ (CPAB) based oncology therapeutics announces that it has been awarded a €0.5 million grant (approximately USD$0.6 million) from the Flanders government through the Flemish Agency for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO).
The grant will allow Complix to further develop its CPAB platform, which can generate CPABs based therapeutics with the unique ability to act on targets located inside the cytosol and the nucleus of human cancer cells. The grant will specifically focus on the development of CPABs addressing targets within the nucleus of cancer cells.
CPABs are a revolutionary class of small proteins that can enter tumor cells and selectively modulate intracellular protein-to-protein interactions, which play a key role in the initiation and progression of a broad range of cancers. CPABs act with great precision and high affinity on intracellular targets through combining the advantages of antibodies with the cell penetrating ability of small chemicals. This allows CPABs to act on targets that are considered “intractable” by current drug formats.
Complix has generated pre-clinical proof of concept data, which demonstrates that CPABs can penetrate cancer cells and act on targets within the cytosolic space to induce a therapeutic effect (induce apoptosis and death of the cancer cells). Recent studies have also demonstrated that it can design and create CPABs that can penetrate the nucleus of cancer cells.
As the control center of the cell, the nucleus contains multiple regulatory proteins which are essential to cancer growth and so represents a rich repository of important targets for Complix’ CPABs.
“We are extremely pleased to have received this grant from the VLAIO, which will allow us to further develop our pipeline of novel CPABs addressing important intranuclear oncology targets. We are confident that by designing CPABs to modulate these targets we will be able to create a new class of therapeutics capable of delivering a significant improvement in cancer therapy.” said Yvonne McGrath, CSO of Complix.
About Complix
Complix is a biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of transformative Cell Penetrating AlphabodyTM (CPAB) based therapeutics against a number of cutting-edge and challenging intracellular targets, that play an important role in oncology. Complix is able to design and generate CPABs that can address targets both in the cytosol and the nucleus of the cancer cell. CPABs act with great precision and high affinity on targets that are considered “intractable” by current drug formats, such as antibodies or small chemicals.
Complix has an ongoing strategic collaboration with Merck & Co to develop novel CPAB based therapeutics against two selected intracellular cancer targets. Under the terms of this collaboration, which was recently expanded, Complix is eligible to receive up to $280 million in upfront and development and regulatory milestones as well as tiered mid-single digit royalties on global sales revenues.
As a pioneer in intracellular targeting, Complix aims to develop a collection of first-in-class therapeutics with the potential to cure severe diseases with high unmet medical need.
Complix NV (Belgium) and its affiliate Complix SA (Luxembourg) have established a strong intellectual property position protecting the Alphabody™ platform and its emerging product portfolio through the filing of multiple broad patent applications. Since its foundation in 2008, Complix has raised more than €27 million through several rounds of venture financing.
Contacts
Complix NV
Dr. Yvonne McGrath, CSO
Tel. +32 9 261 69 40
www.complix.com