InDex Pharmaceuticals receives grant from Vinnova for pre-clinical development of DIMS compounds in inflammation
31 mars 2020 – InDex Pharmaceuticals Holding AB (publ) today announced that SEK 2.0 million has been granted from Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova to develop new, more effective and safer treatments for inflammatory diseases.
The grant from Vinnova within the call “Innovation projects in small and medium-sized companies” will be used for a preclinical project to evaluate selected compounds from InDex’s DIMS platform in inflammatory disease models outside the field of inflammatory bowel disease. This is a continuation of the project that InDex received a grant from Vinnova for in 2016. Positive signals were observed in the previous project, which will now be confirmed with alternative and complementary methods for selecting a DIMS compound for further development. In addition to the selected DIMS compounds, InDex will primarily contribute with man hours.
InDex technology platform consists of a large number of proprietary oligonucleotides, called DNA-based ImmunoModulatory Sequences (DIMS). They function as immunomodulatory agents by binding to Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). InDex’s lead DIMS compound is cobitolimod, which in 2019 met the primary endpoint in the phase IIb study CONDUCT as a potential new treatment for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.
“We are very pleased with the continued support from Vinnova for this exciting project,” said Peter Zerhouni, CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals. “The funding will help us to build on the previous positive signals observed in the project. By expanding our development pipeline with more DIMS compounds and in other inflammatory diseases we can leverage the experience and expertise gained from the development of cobitolimod in ulcerative colitis”.
The project is planned to start during the spring 2020 and continue until the end of 2021.
For more information:
Peter Zerhouni, CEO
Phone: +46 8 508 847 35
E-mail: peter.zerhouni@indexpharma.com
InDex Pharmaceuticals in brief
InDex is a pharmaceutical development company focusing on immunological diseases where there is a high unmet medical need for new treatment options. The company’s lead asset is the drug candidate cobitolimod, which is in late stage clinical development for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis – a debilitating, chronic inflammation of the large intestine. InDex has also developed a platform of patent protected discovery stage substances, so called DNA based ImmunoModulatory Sequences (DIMS), with the potential to be used in treatment of various immunological diseases.
InDex is based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company’s shares (ticker INDEX) are traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm. Redeye AB with e-mail certifiedadviser@redeye.se and phone number +46 8 121 576 90 is the company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.indexpharma.com
Publication
The information was submitted for publication through the agency of the contact person set out above at 08:00 CET on March 31, 2020.