AUCKLAND, New Zealand--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Virionyx Corporation Limited, a New Zealand unlisted public biotechnology company, today announced that it has changed its name to Innate Therapeutics Limited. The new name reflects a major repositioning of the company to focus development activities on its proprietary drug candidate MIS416, which has shown promising activity in preclinical proof-of-principle studies in cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases. The company plans to initiate a Phase 1 human safety study with MIS416 in New Zealand within the 2nd quarter 2009, and, if positive, will pursue phase 2 trials in cancer in 2010. The company also said it had recently raised NZ $3 million from existing New Zealand and U.S. shareholders to support the Phase 1 trial.
