Bioggio, Switzerland, January 31, 2012 - Telormedix today announced that it has been elected as a member of the collaborative research programme – Targeting novel mechanisms of resolution in inflammation (TIMER). The programme, funded with €3M from the EU to establish robust collaboration with Brazil, and comprises a team of competitive European universities and research institutions next to top Brazilian groups. The project is reinforced by the presence of Merck Serono as well as Telormedix who are both participating in order to promote translational research.
Telormedix’s contribution to the project, coordinated by Alcide Barberis, Head of Research and Collaborations, will primarily draw on its expertise in the field of modulators of Toll-like Receptors (TLRs), which play a key role in inflammatory diseases, as well as on the recent advances in the characterization of its TLR modulators as first-in-class and efficacious anti-inflammatory compounds.
TIMER was launched on January 1 2012 to accelerate the development of novel and powerful strategies to fight inflammation. Scientists from nine research partners in four European countries and three research partners in Brazil will collaborate in this new programme.
“This is a unique opportunity for European scientists to strengthen ties with Brazilian colleagues addressing central issues related to inflammation, of broad potential in immune-based pathologies. The project will capitalize on productive interactions. The availability of natural resources, models of diseases, original paradigms and molecular approaches will be conducive to synergistic interactions” says Alberto Mantovani, coordinator of TIMER and director of the Istituto Clinico Humanitas which is based in Milan/Italy.
Alcide Barberis, Head of Research and Collaborations at Telormedix, commented: “We are privileged to be playing such a strong part in this important international collaboration. We have great hopes that this collaboration will deliver new approaches to the treatment of diseases of unmet need.”
About Telormedix
Telormedix (www.telormedix.com), founded in October 2007, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on targeted immunity and modulation of the innate immune system for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. The Company’s lead product, TMX-101, recently entered a Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC). In addition, Telormedix is developing two TLR7-targeted molecules, TMX-201 and TMX-202, as a vaccine adjuvant. One of these molecules, TMX-202, has recently been selected for preclinical study for the topical treatment of skin cancers and other indications. The candidate has already successfully completed a number of in vivo studies. Telormedix also has an additional pipeline of programmes for inflammatory disorders, which is called TMX-30X.
Located in Switzerland, Telormedix is led by a highly experienced management team and backed by an international consortium of venture capitalists Aravis Venture (Basel, Switzerland) and Proquest Investments (Princeton-San Diego, USA).
Further Information:
Johanna Holldack
CEO
Telormedix SA
t: +41 (0)91 610 7000
e: jholldack@telormedix.com
Robert Mayer
Account Director
College Hill Life Sciences
t : +49 (0)89 5238 8030
e: robert.mayer@collegehill.com
From basic research to public health
This research programme covers a wide range of crucial aspects leading to resolution of inflammation; from discovery of novel natural compounds and basic research to clinical trials. The project will therefore lead to: improved collaboration with Brazilian scientists which have the privilege to have access to natural compounds acting on receptors which modulate inflammation, translation to the clinic available information and new data generated in the TIMER pipeline, and widespread knowledge on such an important theme for public health.
Details of TIMER project
Start date: 01/01/2012
End date: 31/12/2015
Project cost: €4 million
EU contribution: €3 million
Coordinator: Alberto Mantovani, Fondazione Humanitas per la Ricerca, Rozzano (Milano) – Italy
Email: info@altaweb.eu
Participants
Fondazione Humanitas per la Ricerca, Italy
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Universidade of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
Fondazione per l’Istituto di Ricerca in Biomedicina, Switzerland
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Telormedix SA, Switzerland
The Provost Fellows & Scholars of the Holy and Undivided
Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, Ireland
Merck Serono SA, Switzerland
ALTA Ricerca e Sviluppo in Biotecnologie S.r.l.u., Italy
