Former Chemgenex boss Dr Greg Collier is blazing a very fast drug development path with his latest company, Invion.
While developing and marketing new drugs is normally a slow, frustrating and plodding affair, the combination of a US clinical team led by prolific drug developer, Dr Mitchell Glass, and the conversion of well-understood oral drugs to safer inhaled versions has dramatically shortened the timeline.
Wednesday’s announcement of a collaboration deal with the highly respected 3M drug delivery system adds a further turbocharger, with Invion shares in a trading halt, pending a capital raising.
Together, the two inhaler drugs, INV102 (nadolol) and INV104 (zafirlukast), should be suitable to treat a wide variety of common problems, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, lupus and smoking cessation.
Another drug to treat inflammation, INV103, is closer to partnering with a large pharmaceutical company which would bring some handy drug development cash through the door.
“We’re aiming to build a respiratory franchise that is significant in terms of new opportunities for patients,’’ Dr Collier told me on Wednesday.
Invion remains a speculative buy.
IVX Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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