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FINLAND
Deal Maker of the Year Awards 2013 WINNER - RISTO LAMMINTAUSTA
DEAL: Karolinska Development and Novo lead the investment to start Forendo Pharma NAME: Risto Lammintausta COMPANY: Forendo Pharma Ltd POSITION: CEO TEL: +358 40 310 8010 EMAIL: risto.lammintausta@forendo.com WEBSITE: www.forendo.com
BIO
Risto Lammintausta M.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from University of Turku.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology in University of Turku.
Top management roles in drug discovery and development in Farmos and Orion from 1980 to 1997: launched products Eldepryl, Domosedan, Antisedan, Fareston, Precedex.
Domitor,
1997-2013 cofounder and CEO of Hormos Medical: launched products HMRlignan and Osphena.
2013 onwards: cofounder and CEO of Forendo Pharma.
Current positions of trust: board member in multiple biotech companies.
Member of the Research and Innovation Council of Finland and member of committees of research and innovation in industry associations.
Forendo Pharma jumps with deals to develop novel drugs
In June Forendo Pharma was closing a multi-party transaction to kick-off development of two drugs with significant potential for future.
Forendo purchased from Hormos Medical assets for two drug development platforms: for novel HSD17B inhibitors and for SERM compounds including fispemifene.
To progress the development work Karolinska Development AB (publ) and Novo Seeds co-led the first investment round of € 8,5 million with Finnvera joining. Additionally the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) committed to funding of €1,8 million as R&D loan for the HSD17B platform.
The first targeted product from the HSD17B platform is inhibitor of the subtype 1 enzyme for endometriosis. This product is in preclinical phase and expected to enter clinic during 2014.
Forendo Pharma has the unencumbered rights for fresh patents.
HSD17B1 enzyme is novel drug target expressed in few estrogen dependent tisues like endometrium, endometriosis, breast and breast cancer. Its function is to locally produce active estrogen to leverage the circulating concentration up to 10 times higher. This regulation is called intracrinology.
Inhibiting this enzyme will offer a new level of
specificity to eliminate estrogen dependent growth of e.g. endometriosis, without disturbing the systemic hormone balance. The mechanistic proof of concept
has been demonstrated in primate studies with Forendo compounds. This novel mechanism is expected to advance many therapies in women’s health.
Up to 10-15 % of women in the fertile age are suffering from endometriosis with e.g. pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea and infertility. This chronic disease don’t have a cure. The surgery has high recurrence and drugs have either poor tolerability or poor efficacy. Lot of working days are lost globally because of the pain symptoms in spite of painkillers used.
From the second platform fispemifene is a novel estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) compound , first one originally discovered for use in men. In men with low testosterone symptoms , specifically called secondary hypogonadism, fispemifene is normalizing the own testosterone secretion. This product has been studied already in two phase II studies in patients with “low T”. Fispemifene is taken as once daily tablet.
Treatment of “low T” is today dominated by transdermal testosterone replacement products, mainly gels. The market is growing rapidly and has passed $2 billion in USA. An oral product is, however, eagerly wanted by the users. Most men will appreciate also restoring and maintaining of the own testicular function including fertility with fispemifene in contrast to testosterone replacement shutting off own testicles.
The highly potential product opportunities and the experienced Forendo team have already proven of interest for both new investors and pharma partners when working towards the next deals.