Biotica nominates cyclophilin inhibitor BC556 for development....

Biotica Technology Limited announces development of cyclophilin inhibitor BC556 for treatment of chronic Hepatitis C. Biotica claims to offer an advantage with a high barrier to resistance, low potential for drug interactions and PK suitable for once-daily dosing.

PRESS RELEASE
Oct. 31, 2011, 12:09 p.m. EDT
Biotica nominates drug candidate, BC556, a cyclophilin inhibitor to treat Hepatitis C
Cyclophilin inhibition provides a high barrier to viral resistance in combination therapy


LONDON, Oct 31, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Biotica Technology Limited (Biotica), a privately-held biotechnology company that discovers and develops polyketide therapeutics, today announces the nomination of its drug candidate, BC556, a cyclophilin inhibitor to treat Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. BC556 offers many benefits over existing treatments and, in combination with drugs acting by other mechanisms, offers the potential of an interferon-free regimen for treatment of HCV infection.

BC556 is a highly potent inhibitor of HCV replication across viral genotypes, its pharmacokinetic profile is consistent with once-daily oral dosing and the compound exhibits a very high barrier to selection of viral resistance. As in HIV therapy, successful treatment of HCV is likely to involve combination of drugs acting by different mechanisms. BC556 benefits from reduced interaction with drug transporters and metabolizing enzymes responsible for drug-drug interactions, and therefore is a suitable compound for combining with other drugs in a treatment cocktail. BC556 was selected from Biotica's new Sangamide class of cyclophilin inhibitors. Sangamides are analogs of the naturally-occurring polyketide Sanglifehrin A, produced using Biotica's proprietary polyketide engineering technology.

"It is our strong belief that only a combination therapy, as in the treatment of HIV, will offer patients a fully-efficacious treatment for hepatitis C,'' commented Edward Hodgkin, Biotica's CEO. "As such, Biotica will develop and commercialise BC556 in combination with other drugs with the aim to provide a therapy with a high barrier to resistance, pan-genotype efficacy, oral dosing, and without the side effects seen with interferon-based therapy.''

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Notes to editors

About Biotica Technology Limited

Biotica is a privately-held biotechnology company that discovers and develops polyketide therapeutics. It has a growing pipeline of novel therapeutic programs supported by clinical validation. These include nPT-mTOR (unique rapamycin analogs), nPT-CyP (cyclophilin inhibitors for HCV) and nPT-ery (anti-inflammatory erythromycin analogs partnered with GlaxoSmithKline). All of Biotica's projects employ its proprietary novoPT(TM) technology, which enables it to select from the many known polyketides with biological activity and make a range of derivatives that are either difficult or impossible to make by medicinal chemistry methods. For additional information visit www.biotica.com .

About Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) is a chronic blood-borne infection which attacks the liver with potentially fatal effects. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 170 million people worldwide are infected with HCV, making the virus a health concern of global magnitude. Vaccines for HCV are not available and the infection is only curable in certain patients.

The current standard of care (SoC) treatment for HCV is the well-established combination therapy of interferon-alpha (a protein therapeutic immune stimulant) and ribavirin (a broad spectrum anti-viral). This protocol has serious side effects and shortfalls in efficacy. SoC only achieves a sustained clearance and virological response (SVR) rate of 45% in HCV genotype 1 (the predominant genotype of the virus in Western countries). In addition, the chronic side effects of the treatment (fatigue, influenza-like symptoms, etc.), present compliance issues for patients over the 48-week course. Indeed, the severity of the side effects is such that 60 to 80 percent of patients are forced to reduce dosing, or cease treatment entirely. It is noteworthy that a recent report of US Veterans [State of Care for Veterans with Chronic Hepatitis C, Nov 2010] states that up to 100,000 patients are delaying HCV treatment awaiting better therapies in development that offer greater efficacy and better side-effect profiles.

SOURCE: Biotica Technology Limited