"We're delighted to reach this financing milestone, and are especially pleased to be associated with this group of very highly regarded investors," said Mitchell P. Fink, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Logical Therapeutics. "This new investment will allow us to reach clinically meaningful results in several of our programs in a short period of time."
The funding will allow Logical to advance multiple drug candidates, including its lead drug, LT-NS001, a novel naproxen pro-drug, through proof- of-concept clinical trials.
"The leadership of Mitch Fink and Logical Therapeutics' Chief Operating Officer, Carolyn Green, has been exemplary," said Dr. Lutz Giebel, Managing Partner for SV Life Sciences. "We are very enthusiastic about the company's robust pipeline of inflammation-oriented therapeutic programs and the strength of the founding management team. Dr. Fink is a world-renowned inflammation expert whose experience in both the laboratory and the clinic will serve Logical well as it advances its drug programs. We are most pleased to be leading this investment."
The Company's lead compound, LT-NS001, is a pro-drug, which is converted in the bloodstream into naproxen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Naproxen is widely regarded as the NSAID with the most favorable cardiovascular safety profile among all of the drugs in this class. In pre- clinical studies in rats and dogs, LT-NS001 was shown to cause significantly less damage to the gastrointestinal tract than equivalent doses of naproxen. LT-NS001 has completed pre-clinical toxicology testing and was evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial and shown to be well tolerated. The company plans to enter Phase 2 clinical testing in 2008.
"Physicians and patients have accumulated more than 30 years of experience with naproxen, which is widely available as an over-the-counter agent to treat pain and other signs and symptoms of inflammation caused by chronic conditions, such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis," said Fink. "Despite its considerable efficacy and its good cardiovascular safety profile, naproxen, like most NSAIDs, can cause serious, even life-threatening, gastrointestinal complications. The robust pre-clinical data package for LT- NS001 suggests that this novel compound will provide patients with a drug that combines the efficacy and cardiovascular safety of naproxen while substantially decreasing the risk for gastrointestinal ulceration."
Two of the programs in the Company's pre-clinical pipeline were in- licensed from the University of Pittsburgh, and include a compound to address C-reactive protein (CRP)-induced leptin-resistance in obese patients and a potent peptide-based inhibitor of TNF/TNFR1 signaling, which could significantly alter the way in which a variety of auto-immune diseases are treated.
About Logical Therapeutics Inc.
Logical Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company currently based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company will relocate its corporate headquarters to the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area in third quarter 2007. Logical Therapeutics is developing drugs to treat a variety of medical conditions that are caused by or are associated with excessive inflammation, including various forms of arthritis, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. For more information on Logical Therapeutics, visit the company's website at www.logicaltherapeutics.com or by email at info@logicaltherapeutics.com
Source: Logical Therapeutics Inc.
