Assistant Managing Editor

Founded less than a year ago to develop products for skin disorders, Vicept Therapeutics Inc. recently added $10 million in Series A funding to push into Phase II with its lead program designed specifically to address erythema associated with rosacea.

"We're going to be jumping into Phase II studies in the second half of this year," said President and CEO Neal Walker, a dermatologist who co-founded the Malvern, Pa.-based specialty pharma firm around an alpha-adrenergic receptor technology for use in developing topical skin treatments.

Vicept has raised a total of $16 million in the Series A round, led by investors Vivo Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences. Those funds should get the firm through the end of Phase II with V-101 in rosacea and allow it to advance a second product aimed at various forms of bruising and purpura.

While there are existing treatments available for rosacea, most are not effective against erythema, the facial redness. V-101 works by binding with the adrenergic receptor present on blood vessels and "clamping down" on them, Walker said. "It's the dilated vessels that cause the redness."

Roughly 16 million to 17 million people in the U.S. suffer from rosacea, and about 80 percent of those experience the redness, "so it's a rather large market opportunity," Walker told BioWorld Today.

The main pharmaceutical ingredient in V-101 is not new. Vicept's technology is based on "a group of molecules that have been used for years – since the late 1960s – actually, in ocular and nasal indications," he said. Drugs such as Afrin (pseudoephedrine), for instance, act on the alpha-adrenergic receptors.

That means Vicept has a good shot at applying for approval of V-101 under the less risky 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, though Walker pointed out that "it's still a new topical dosage, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Funds from the latest round are expected to get V-101 through Phase II testing. After that, the company will consider its options. When starting a company, "I think you have to plan to take [a drug] all the way through on your own," Walker said, though partnering is certainly "on the table."

Earlier in the pipeline, Vicept has a topical program designed to reduce actinic purpura, bruising associated with accumulated sun damage that typically affects the elderly, as well as bruising from injectable procedures.

"A lot of people don't realize how life-altering" dermatologic conditions such as rosacea can be, Walker said. And the company's mission is reflected clearly in its name, a reference to two Latin words: "vita," meaning life, and "receptus" meaning to take back.

"It's about giving people their lives back," Walker said.

In connection with the financing, Albert Cha, of Vivo Ventures, Thomas Beck, of Fidelity Biosciences, and Arnad Mehra, of Sofinnova Ventures, are joining Vicept's board. Also on the board are Walker and Stephen Tullman, who serves as chairman.