Spinifex Pharmaceuticals is an Australian biotechnology company developing new drug candidates for the treatment and management of pain. Established in 2005 and based in Melbourne, Spinifex has applied its world-class drug development capabilities to advance product candidates. Its lead product EMA401 is under development as a potential first-in-class oral treatment for neuropathic pain and related symptoms without CNS side effects. Spinifex’s Phase 2 program for EMA401 includes clinical trials in a number of neuropathic pain conditions. Spinifex investors are GBS Venture Partners, Brandon Capital Partners, Uniseed and UniQuest.
UQ start-up reports positive news for shingles pain sufferers
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Australian biotech start-up Spinifex Pharmaceuticals has reported positive results from a Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead product, EMA401, for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, a start-up company commercialising novel treatments for neuropathic and inflammatory pain developed by The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Professor Maree Smith, has reported positive results from a recent Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead product, EMA401, for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a painful condition that develops in some patients following herpes zoster (shingles).
The results were presented at the 14th World Congress of Pain® in Milan, a major international meeting organised by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP®). A summary can be accessed here.
David Henderson, Managing Director of UQ’s main research commercialisation company, UniQuest, said the clinical trial results marked a major milestone for Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, which UniQuest formed in 2005.
“Professor Maree Smith and her colleagues have developed new possibilities to help doctors relieve patients of this extremely debilitating nerve pain,” Mr Henderson said.
“As many as one in four people contract shingles in their lifetime, and about 20% of them will experience PHN, but there’s no single treatment available that works for all of them without dose-limiting side-effects.
“Elderly people have twice the risk of contracting shingles, so the global aging population trend has prompted predictions that the market for neuropathic pain treatments will exceed US$6 billion in the next five years. With EMA401 being developed as a potential first-in-class oral treatment for neuropathic pain and related symptoms, Spinifex is on track to have a significant impact on this healthcare sector.
“And particularly rewarding for UniQuest is that the original discovery, upon which Spinifex Pharmaceuticals is based, was one of the winners of our very first Trailblazer innovative and entrepreneurial ideas competition at UQ, and we celebrating the winners of the 10th Trailblazer competition right now.”
Spinifex Pharmaceuticals CEO Tom McCarthy said it was tremendously gratifying for the Spinifex team to have taken a scientific discovery through to proof of clinical concept in what is a notoriously difficult field and one where new treatments are clearly needed.
“We look forward to advancing EMA401 further in PHN, other neuropathic pain indications, and eventually as a broad treatment for chronic pain in general,” Dr McCarthy said.
Spinifex’s clinical program for EMA401 is currently recruiting for a Phase 2 study in the treatment of neuropathic pain in cancer chemotherapy patients. More information about Spinifex Pharmaceuticals’ drug development programs can be found on this website: www.spinifexpharma.com.au.
About Spinifex Pharmaceuticals
About UniQuest Pty Limited
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia’s largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. From an intellectual property portfolio of 1,500+ patents it has created over 70 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than $450 million to take university technologies to market. Annual sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are running at $3 billion. UniQuest now commercialises innovations developed at The University of Queensland and its commercialisation partner institutions: the University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University, University of Tasmania, Mater Medical Research Institute, and Queensland Health. UniQuest also provides access to an expansive and exclusive network of independent academics to tailor a consulting or project R&D solution to meet the diverse needs of industry and government, facilitating some 500 consulting, expert opinion, testing, and contract research services each year. UniQuest is also a leading Australasian provider of international development assistance recognised for excellence in technical leadership, management and research. Working with agencies such as AusAID, NZAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, UniQuest has developed and implemented more than 400 projects in 60+ countries throughout the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. www.uniquest.com.au