Telormedix and Foamix have been awarded just shy of €950,000 (slightly below $1.2 million) under the EU’s Eurostars program to fund development of a foam-based topical treatment for skin cancer based on Telormedix’s TMX-202 candidate. Researchers at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) will collaborate on the two-year TOSCA project, which will study the efficacy and safety of the foam formulation using preclinical animal models.
Swiss firm Telormedix is focused on the development of innate immune system-modulating drugs for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. TMX-202 is a TLR7-targeted agonist discovered through a collaboration with the University of California, San Diego. The compound is in development for the potential treatment of dermatological cancers, actinic keratosis, and genital warts.
Telormedix’s lead candidate, TMX-101, is a small molecule in development for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer. The compound is a known immunomodulatory molecule that has previously demonstrated clinical efficacy in oncological and viral diseases.
Israel-based Foamix is a clinical-stage specialty pharma company exploiting its topical foam and OilGel™ technologies in house and through commercial partnerships for the development of products for dermatology, gynecology, ophthalmology, wounds, and burn applications. The firm’s first product, the foam-based psoriasis treatment, Scytera™, was launched by Promius Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. in 2009.