Trial Results "exciting" for Dimerix

Trial results ‘exciting’ for biotech Dimerix

Kathy Harrison, head of drug discovery company Dimerix, says the Australian minnow is on the cusp of what she hopes will be exciting trial results that could fuel a company-defining deal.

The Australian-listed Dimerix is focused on a treatment for chronic kidney disease and is keen to copy recent deals for similar drug development platforms.

A US competitor recently secured a $50 million upfront payment in a licence deal for its product, a move Dimerix, which owns and controls its own development platform, is hoping it can mirror.

Ms Harrison said the company was at an “extremely exciting time”.

“Being in a phase two (clinical trial) is a good time to talk to partners and we have been, and will continue to do so, as the data comes out,” the chief executive said.

“We are looking at licensing opportunities, as we wouldn’t expect to take it to market. A lot of potential partners have asked us to come back at the end of phase two.”

The business was co-founded by Perth-based venture capitalist James Williams, who is now its chairman, to commercialise a drug discovery technology platform that was developed by the University of Western Australia. The majority shareholder is former Fortescue Metals Group and Worley Parsons executive Peter Meurs.
Ms Harrison said the company, which used known drugs to address a condition, was initially focused on a rare kidney disease, FSGS. Targeting a rare condition allowed the company to access the orphan drug pathway, which is a faster route to regulatory approval.

Dimerix has told investors in a presentation that independent analysts estimated that FSGS drug sales were worth $US1 billion ($1.3bn) per annum in the US.

The company is addressing patients who are already on a blood-pressure-lowering drug and it is then adding to their treatment a drug known to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Ms Harrison said its technology platform enabled the company to look at the way proteins in cells interacted with each other in a way that no other technology allowed. “Through those interactions you can identify which drugs are likely to act synergistically,” she said.

The company plans to release this month some early results from its phase two trial, which is under way. “Interim data last October was exciting and if the data can continue along those lines it will be very exciting.

“The company is at a pivotal point. We are engaging with key opinion leaders in the UK and US — it feels like we’re on the cusp. That cusp might be 12 to 18 months but we hope when we announce where our data is at, it will be good and we will be in a really good position to progress to the next level,” Ms Harrison said.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...x/news-story/9b042f2eacd2840da6f183a7359ef658