Reuters Thu Sep 29, 2011 Lund, Sweden / Leiden, the Netherlands, 29 September 2011 NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB (publ) and to-BBB, the Dutch brain drug delivery company, have been awarded a grant of €1 million through the Eureka Eurostars program for the joint development of therapies for stroke and other acute neurological conditions. Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in Europe, imposing a large economic burden on individuals and society. Currently, the development of safe and effective neuroprotective treatments represents the greatest unmet need in the management of stroke. The Eurostars program has awarded NeuroVive Pharmaceutical and to-BBB technologies, two highly innovative European Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), a grant of approximately €500,000 each. This grant supports their joint preclinical development program on a potential new treatment for stroke patients. In this program NeuroVive's cyclosporin A for the treatment of neurological damage is combined with to-BBB's G-Technology® to enhance delivery of this drug across the blood-brain barrier. The strategic collaboration between the two companies commenced in October 2010 and the Eurostars grant solidifies and accelerates this partnership."NeuroVive's expertise in the area of acute neurological conditions and their leading clinical work with NeuroSTAT® in traumatic brain injuries, provides a strong base for this program." says Pieter Gaillard, CSO of to-BBB, "Since the blood-brain barrier limits drug penetration in stroke patients when they need it most, to-BBB's proprietary G-Technology® holds promise to enhance brain delivery of cyclosporin-based pharmaceuticals for this devastating disorder.""We are proud that our innovative partnership has been recognized by the Eurostars program. Our project received ranking position 20 out of 348 initiatives in a strong competitive environment. We look forward to accelerate the partnership of NeuroVive and to-BBB with the aim to generate therapies for the large stroke market and other acute neurological conditions", says Mikael Bronnegard, CEO of NeuroVive.
About Eurostars Eurostars aims to stimulate SMEs to lead international collaborative research and innovation projects by easing access to support and funding. It is fine-tuned to focus on the needs of SMEs, and specifically targets the development of new products, processes and services and the access to transnational and international markets.
About NeuroVive NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB (publ) is a Swedish drug development company. NeuroVive's primary mission is to develop drugs for the treatment of acute brain injury, reperfusion injury in myocardial infarction and other acute injuries where mitochondrial energy production is critical for clinical outcome. The company is currently sponsoring a phase III clinical trial with its cyclosporin-A lipid emulsion in heart attack patients, and is entering into a phase II-III clinical trial in traumatic brain injury. In addition to the cyclophilin-D program, NeuroVive is developing additional medications treating mitochondrial dysfunction (i.e., reduced or limited energy production), and disorders requiring an increased energy demand such as recovering from extensive surgery and intensive care, and as well conditions in which augmented energy expenditure (e.g. obesity) is important. NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB (publ) shares are listed on the Swedish trading platform AktieTorget (www.aktietorget.se). The AktieTorget market is focused on emerging, entrepreneurial businesses and offers an electronic trading system supplied by the OMX Nordic stock exchange in Stockholm, Sweden.
About to-BBB to-BBB is a clinical stage biotechnology company focusing on enhanced drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. The Company is developing novel treatments for devastating brain disorders, such as brain cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases, by combining existing drugs with the G-Technology®, to-BBB's proprietary brain delivery platform. This technology combines the widely used drug delivery approach of pegylated liposomes with the endogenous tripeptide glutathione as targeting ligand in a novel and safe way. Together with several top tier pharma and biotech companies, to-BBB is investigating the versatility of the G-Technology® for drugs that are unable to reach the brain within a tolerable therapeutic window. to-BBB is applying the G-Technology® for the delivery of doxorubicin for the treatment of brain cancer as its internal lead product 2B3-101. to-BBB is headquartered in the Netherlands at the Leiden Bio Science Park and established a fully owned subsidiary, to-BBB Taiwan Ltd., in Taipei, Taiwan. Investors in to-BBB include Aescap Venture, Antea Participaties, Jonghoud International, the Industrial Bank of Taiwan Management Corporation (IBTM) and a consortium of informal investors.
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