Creabilis Raises $20M to Complete Phase II Trials with Topical TrkA Kinase Inhibitor

Creabilis raised €15 million (about $20 million) in a Series B round of fundraising led by Abbott Biotech Ventures. The money will be used to support continuing development of the firm’s lead product, CT327, to the end of Phase II trials along with additional pipeline candidates.

CT327 is a topical TrkA kinase inhibitor currently undergoing Phase II trials in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis as well as proof-of-concept studies in pain. The candidate has been developed using Creabilis’s Low Systemic Exposure (LSE) platform for conjugating small molecules to low molecular weight polyoxyethylene. The firm claims the LSE technology results in products with high local and low systemic exposures and optimizes drug molecules for topical routes of administration.

Creabilis’s pipeline includes a second, LSE-modified TrkA kinase inhibitor, CT340. It is in preclinical development also for psoriasis and atopic dermatitis as well as for other indications including inflammatory arthritis and pain. The firm says it anticipates filing an IND application in 2012.

A second preclinical-stage candidate, CT637, is a PEGylated variant of HMGB-1 box-A domain targeting toll-like receptors (TLRs). It is in development for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.  Creabilis’s research-stage CT750 program is centered on the development of  LSE-modified local anesthetics for the treatment of pain that demonstrate low systemic exposure and thus reduced risk of cardiotoxicity.