Dimerix Bioscience is pleased to announce that it has been offered a $200,000 ‘Commercial Ready’ grant by AusIndustry to support the development of a new class of drugs targeting G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in a way that exploits their ability to form complexes to achieve enhanced therapeutic benefits.
Mr Matt Callahan, Dimerix Bioscience’s Chief Executive Officer, said the grant represented major support for the company’s research effort in the development of this new class of compounds.
“As an Australian company, we are extremely grateful for the support of AusIndustry. The grant will play a significant role in accelerating our research and early-stage commercialisation activities.”
GPCRs are the single most successful class of drug targets, with more than one quarter of the top 200 best selling drugs targeting GPCRs as single elements or ‘monomers’. Scientific and industry research now realises, however, that most GPCRs form complexes with each other which significantly changes their function compared to the GPCRs by themselves. This important feature has been difficult to analyse and thus, has not been systematically applied for the design of superior drugs and therapeutic strategies. To address this challenge, Dimerix have developed a proprietary assay system which allows researchers to look inside GPCR clusters, and to characterise them in ways not possible with existing technologies.
Dimerix are undertaking their development program in a joint venture with listed nanomedicine company Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL). The grant funds will be used to accelerate the design of new polyvalent compounds utilising Starpharma’s proprietary dendrimer structures. Starpharma’s own product VivaGel, a vaginal microbicide gel developed for women as a preventative against the sexual transmission of HIV, recently completed a Phase I trial and was shown to be safe for use in humans.
Matt Callahan, CEO of Dimerix, said that, “the offer of Commercial Ready support provides excellent independent validation of Dimerix’ technology and drug discovery strategy.”
Commercial Ready is a competitive merit-based grant program supporting innovation and its commercialisation. It aims to stimulate greater innovation and productivity growth in the private sector and offers industry a single entry point to competitive grants for early-stage commercialisation activities, research and development (R&D) with a high commercial potential, and proof-of-concept activities.
About Dimerix Bioscience Dimerix is a drug discovery venture which focuses on fully validated drug targets and leverages existing knowledge on drug-like molecules. As a consequence, Dimerix leapfrogs the initial, low-value drug discovery steps. Using innovative technologies, these existing drugs or drug-like compounds are modified in a rational way to enhance their properties and achieve higher efficacy. The time to enter clinical trials is expected to take 2-3 years which is significantly shorter than the industry’s average of 5-8 years. http://www.dimerix.com
About AusIndustry AusIndustry is the program delivery division of the Australian Government Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. AusIndustry delivers a range of innovation grants, small business services, tax and duty concessions, industry support, and venture capital products to more than 10,000 businesses every year. Commercial Ready is a competitive merit-based grant program within AusIndustry supporting innovation and its commercialisation. It aims to stimulate greater innovation and productivity growth in the private sector by providing around $200 million per year in competitive grants to small and medium-sized businesses between 2004-05 and 2010-11. It offers industry a single entry point to competitive grants for early-stage commercialisation activities, research and development (R&D) with a high commercial potential, and proof-of-concept activities.
Further Information: Dimerix Bioscience Matt Callahan, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +61 (0) 411 119 179 Email: matt@dimerix.com Website: www.dimerix.com
