RetroVirox Inc. is seeking to raise funds to support the company's hepatitis C virus (HCV) and other antiviral programs, including one aimed at Dengue virus. But the San Diego-based firm, which began operating in May 2009, wants to advance its antiviral programs only so far, through the investigational new drug (IND) application process or Phase I.
"We don't plan to be a clinical stage company," Juan Lama, president, CEO and director of RetroVirox, told BioWorld Today.
Instead, he said the company is focused on the early stages of discovery and preclinical development of lead compounds. RetroVirox could go in a few different directions based on that model.
It would work to identify new compounds that could lead to first-in-class antivirals and out-license those compounds, approach potential partners to continue clinical development, or possibly put all of its assets up for sale, Lama indicated.
The company is interested in partnerships, venture capital and also non-dilutive opportunities such as small business innovation research (SBIR) funding, he said.
Founded by a group of scientists and entrepreneurs in the fields of virology and drug discovery, the company's expertise is in utilizing cell-based assays to discover new small-molecule compounds with antiviral activity. To do this, RetroVirox has developed proprietary assays to identify compounds that block viral entry by targeting host factors rather than viral proteins.
RetroVirox employs four to six scientists with expertise in virology, assay development, high-throughout screening and medicinal chemistry.
The company offers its services to other biotech companies, providing antiviral assays and screening of libraries for antiviral compounds. In that regard, RetroVirox would work similar to a contract research organization, providing assays in the virology area and identifying potential new compounds to offset its research and development expenses.
Still, the company's major focus is on advancing its own discovery programs, explained Lama, who has governed the firm since its inception.
The company's platform technology has achieved proof-of-concept in the area of HIV, and based on that technology, RetroVirox is developing proprietary assays to create a platform to discover drugs against other major human viruses, including HCV. The technology potentially could be used to inhibit viral entry for almost any virus containing a lipid membrane, Lama said.
Ideally, RetroVirox would like to advance its HCV and HIV programs first, to an IND or Phase I. "We are actually working in both [programs] at the same time, although given the burden of HCV infection we intend to put more effort in the HCV program," Lama said.
In the U.S. alone, more than 3 million are infected with HCV.
So far, RetroVirox has received a little over $1.1 million in financing, with much of that coming from three National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards, and the remaining from early stage investors.
The current SBIR Phase I funds would last for the next 18 months. A Phase II SBIR grant could cover another two to three-year period, Lama said.
Under the grants awarded in the last 12 months RetroVirox received $872,000 to fund development of novel HIV entry drugs that could potentially overcome limitations of current therapies. The company received its last award in May to finance the discovery of anti-HIV drugs that block removal of the virus receptor, the CD4 protein.
RetroVirox believes that the mode of action used in its antiviral programs has never been targeted before and holds some key advantages over other antivirals. The company takes aim at human proteins that are needed by the virus to become infectious and enter other cells.
While conventional viral entry inhibitors block binding between the viral envelope and receptor proteins, RetroVirox's approach targets intracellular intracellular proteins, which may not bind directly to viral factors. The company believes that those intracellular host factors could display higher barriers to the emergence of resistant virus, one of the major hurdles in antiviral therapy.
Unlike other entry inhibitors such as the FDA-approved CCR5 blocker maraviroc (Pfizer Inc.'s Selzentry), which act on one of the HIV receptors, RetroVirox's molecules are efficient at blocking entry of all HIV strains, regardless of the co-receptor used by the virus, Lama said.
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