CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—Adenosine Therapeutics says Novartis Option Fund is leading its $14 million Series C round. Novartis also acquired an option to develop Adenosine’s treatments for diabetes and asthma.
Adenosine Therapeutics is developing novel pharmaceutical products that target adenosine receptor subtypes. The company’s most advanced product is Apadenoson, a highly selective A2A agonist, which is in Phase III clinical development for use as a stress agent during cardiac imaging.
In addition to the drug candidates developed by ATL, Novartis obtained an exclusive option to U.S. Patent 6,060,481, which covers the use of A2B receptor antagonists for the treatment of diabetes and related diseases.
“This relationship will accelerate the clinical development of our family of A2B antagonists that have the potential to offer new oral treatment options for patients suffering from Type II diabetes and asthma,” said Robert S. Capon, CEO and co-founder of Adenosine Therapeutics.
“Collaborating with Novartis allows ATL to complement its internal research capabilities with those of this well-respected leader in the pharmaceutical industry and provides robust financing to take the program forward into clinical development.”
The patent was conceived by Kathryn LaNoue, Ph.D. of Penn State University, and Joel Linden, Ph.D. of the University of Virginia, and was exclusively licensed to ATL. Dr. LaNoue and Dr. Linden jointly discovered that A2B receptor antagonists lower blood glucose in insulin resistant animals.
Research by Dr. Linden, a co-founder of Adenosine Therapeutics, and others also suggests that A2B receptor antagonists may be effective for the treatment of asthma and other disorders.
The company is also developing drugs for the treatment of asthma, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, ophthalmic disease and inflammatory indications such as sepsis, heart attack, ischemia-reperfusion injury, sickle cell crisis, vascular injury, arthritis, spinal cord injury, COPD, and inflammatory bowel disease.
For more see: www.adenrx.com
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