C4X tapping into multi-billion dollar drug development market
MANCHESTER-based drug discovery pioneer C4X Discovery Holdings has grown its assets to £8.7m as it continues to develop treatments for addiction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
The company, which floated on the AIM a year ago raising £11m, reported cash equivalents and deposits for the year ending July 31 of £7.5m (2014: £0.7m) in its preliminary results.
During the period the company’s anti-addiction drug Orexin progressed into formal pre-clinical and safety studies.
It also developing NFR-2 in the battle against COPD and diabetes via another drug, GPR142 and GLP-1 and against inflammation and autoimmune diseases via Interleukin 17.
All the of the treatments represent multi-billion dollar market opportunities “and where there is substantial unmet medical need”, the company said.
Meanwhile, since the year end C4X has announced today a collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Structural Genomics Consortium department, providing access to protein structural information, expressed protein and assays.
It has also identified novel lead molecules that activate GPR142, a key factor in the production of insulin.
C4X has also designed novel activators for the NRF-2 pathway, important in mediating diseases such as COPD and multiple sclerosis.
Chairman Clive Dix said: “With the successful IPO, C4XD has secured the funding that enables us to advance our lead programme in Orexin, for the treatment of addiction, into formal pre-clinical safety and toxicity studies.
“We have also designed lead compounds against multiple targets, further validating our platform.
“The support and confidence of our collaboration partners, AstraZeneca, Evotec and Takeda, now joined by the Structural Genomics Consortium provides independent recognition of the significant impact our novel approach can make in enabling ultra rational drug design.
“I am delighted with the progress made since IPO and believe the business is well positioned to deliver future value for shareholders.”
