Date: 2012-06-04
Type of information: Financing round
Company: Alize Pharma (France)
Investors: Sham (France) - OCTALFA (France) - CEMA (Canada) - Thierry Abribat (founder and president)
Amount: € 3.3 million
Funding type: financing round
Planned used: The funds will allow Alizé Pharma to take AZP-531, its UAG (UnAcylated Ghrelin) analog, into Phase I clinical trials. Alizé Pharma will carry out the first (Phase I) clinical trial of AZP-531 in healthy volunteers in 2013, which will be followed by Phase Ib and Phase II trials in patients with type 2 diabetes as well as in patients suffering from the Prader Willi syndrome. Preclinical and clinical data suggest that UAG and its analogs have therapeutic potential in the targeted indications, by reducing acylated ghrelin blood levels, improving glycemic control and insulin sensitivity, and improving additional cardiovascular risk factors.
Others: Alizé Pharma, a group of companies developing drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases and cancer, has completed a funding round of € 3.3 million. The company’s main shareholders participated in the funding round, namely Sham, OCTALFA, CEMA Inc. and Thierry Abribat, founder and president. Since its creation, the company has raised a total of €8.3 million euros.
The funds will allow Alizé Pharma to take AZP-531, its UAG (UnAcylated Ghrelin) analog, into Phase I clinical trials. The UAG program was launched in 2007 in close collaboration with the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and the University of Turin, and under a research collaboration with Eli Lilly, which is now completed. This program aims at developing an analog of unacylated ghrelin, a first product of a new therapeutic class for the treatment of metabolic disorders and resulted in the discovery of AZP-531, the first unacylated ghrelin analog. This 8-amino acid peptide is stable and its pharmacokinetic properties make it suitable for pharmaceutical development. Preclinical and clinical data suggest that unacylated ghrelin and its analogs have the therapeutic potential to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and the Prader Willi syndrome through a novel mechanism of action that includes: marked decrease in circulating levels of acylated ghrelin, an orexigenic and diabetogenic hormone, improved glycemic control, improved insulin sensitivity, trophic effect on beta cells, reduction in fat deposition, and a positive effect on vascular remodeling and on recovery following ischemia.
Professor AJ van der Lely, head of the clinical endocrinology department at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and scientific advisor at Alizé Pharma will present new clinical data on the effects of unacylated ghrelin in diabetic patients at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society (ENDO 2012) that will be held in Houston from June 23 to 26, 2012.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology - Metabolic diseases - Rare diseases
