Date: 2011-12-08
Type of information: Establishment of a new subsidiary in the EU
Company: Arcarios (The Netherlands)
Investors:
Amount: first tranche of a € 4.5 million loan
Funding type: loan
Planned used: The first tranche of the Innovation Credit loan covers a period until mid 2012 during which Arcarios expects to obtain regulatory approval to start a Phase I/IIa clinical trial. In this case Arcarios becomes eligible to receive an additional tranche of the Innovation Credit loan to execute two clinical programs with ARC-118. ARC-118, Arcarios\' lead program, is a polysulfated sugar with dual activity combining cartilage rebuilding and anti-inflammatory properties, which is unique for an osteoarthritis product. This profile of ARC-118 was confirmed in a number of validated pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo experiments. Pre-clinical safety studies, pharmacokinetic and -dynamic studies and formulation work are now in progress.
Others: Arcarios has received the first tranche of a € 4.5 million loan from Agentschap NL to develop its lead program ARC-118 for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Arcarios was incorporated mid 2010 as a spin-off from Tigenix (BE) with a seed investment of €4 mln by an international syndicate of investors including Biogeneration ventures, Crédit Agricole Private Equity, LRM, Baekeland, Erasmus Biomedical Fund, Gemma Frisius Fund and VINNOF. Arcarios has offices in Rotterdam (NL) and Diepenbeek (BE). The company is dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative products targeting bone and joint diseases of unmet medical need with significant commercial potential. Two proprietary technology platforms, ChondroBOOST and OsteoBLAST, form the basis for its drug development pipeline. Currently, Arcarios has one program in early-development stage (ARC-118 for osteoarthritis), one pre-clinical program (ARC-205 for cancer treatment-induced osteoporosis) and a late-discovery stage program (TGF-? modulators that promote cartilage formation in osteoarthritis).
Therapeutic area: Inflammatory diseases - Rheumatic diseases
