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By Catherine Hollingsworth
Staff Writer
Cytochroma hopes to advance its three lead products for kidney disease patients, with an infusion of cash from the closing of a C$45 million (US$44 million) Series C financing and C$105 million licensing deal with Japanese drugmaker Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp.
Under the deal with Mitsubishi Tanabe, Cytochroma granted the Japanese drugmaker an exclusive license in the U.S. and Asia, including Japan, to develop and commercialize CTA018, Cytochroma's novel vitamin D analogue for secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT).
As a result, Cytochroma will receive C$105 million from MTPC, which includes an up-front payment, milestone payments and an equity investment. In exchange for the equity investment, MTPC will receive a certain number of Cytochroma's Class C shares.
In addition, Cytochroma closed a C$45 million Series C financing, which was led by MTPC and supported by a number of existing investors. That money also will be used to advance Cytochroma's portfolio of vitamin D-based therapeutics into mid- and late-stage clinical trials
Cytochroma's therapies are designed to treat disorders related to abnormal or insufficient vitamin D metabolism in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, including SHPT. It has three lead product candidates for CKD patients: CTA018 and CTAP201 for the treatment of SHPT and CTAP101 for the treatment of vitamin D insufficiency.
Phase I trials have been completed for both CTA018 for SHPT and CTAP101 for vitamin D insufficiency, a product candidate aimed at the broader population of CKD patients with a moderate form of the disease. Of the estimated 8 million patients with CKD, SHPT affects 90 percent of severe cases and 40 percent to 60 percent of moderate CKD patients, according to Cytochroma.
SHPT is a condition commonly associated with CKD, in which patients secrete excessive amounts of parathyroid hormone causing softening of the bones and calcification of vascular tissues, according to Cytochroma.
Markham, Ontario-based Cytochroma said its management team has extensive experience developing and commercializing new vitamin D therapies for the CKD market, including Abbott's Zemplar and Genzyme's Hectorol, currently the two leading vitamin D hormone therapies used to treat SHPT in the U.S.
Those two products dominate about 90 percent of sales. The other product used to treat SHPT is Amgen's Sensipar.
But according to the most recent performance data, less than 10 percent of patients treated with the two leading agents for SHPT achieved the recommended level of calcium, phosphate and parathyroid hormone needed to keep bones healthy, noted Charles W. Bishop, Cytochroma president and CEO.
Bishop told BioWorld Today that he believes Cytochroma's products may be more effective and safer since than the current leading products for SHPT. Additionally Cytochroma has earlier stage products phosphate management products which turn off the switch in phosphate absorption as opposed to current products which prevent phosphate from being absorbed.
Those products work by binding phosphate to prevent it from being absorbed, but he said Cytochroma has designed a more advanced product that "turns off the switch in phosphate absorption."
He also noted that a higher dose of the current products are needed because the CYP24 enzyme destroys much of the administered therapy whereas the Cytochroma prevents that from occurring. With higher doses, comes the risk of side effects, which Cytochroma hopes to avoid with its product. | 
