Cerenis and Novasep win €10.7m funding
To develop high-density lipoprotein therapy for cardiovascular diseases
Toulouse-based Cerenis Therapeutics and Novasep, based in Pompey, have been awarded €10.7m in funding from the French government to finance the development of CER-001, a high-density lipoprotein (HDL) therapy developed by Cerenis to treat cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases.
CER-001 is said to represent a promising new approach in the fight against atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and has shown strong preclinical efficacy in promoting reverse lipid transport, a natural cardioprotective mechanism by which excess lipids are removed from peripheral tissues and from within atherosclerotic plaques then taken to the liver for elimination. The programme is currently in Phase 1 clinical development for the treatment of post-acute coronary syndrome patients.
The funding from the French Agency for Innovation (OSEO) will allow the further progression of Cerenis’ novel HDL therapy for orphan disease applications.
Cerenis and Novasep have collaborated on the process development for CER-001 since 2007, focusing on downstream processing of the recombinant protein component. Under this funding and an expanded agreement, Novasep will be responsible for the global manufacturing of clinical and initial commercial supplies for the orphan drug development programme.
‘This is an exciting step toward the development of better treatments for cardiovascular disease. Novasep has demonstrated its core expertise in protein purification to solve a manufacturing problem that has challenged the industry for decades, and we look forward to expanding our relationship,’ said Jean-Louis Dasseux, president and chief executive of Cerenis.
