NovaBiotics targets £3bn market after fungus treatment trials

Published on Monday 31 August 2009 21:17

A SCOTTISH biotechnology firm looks set to take a share of a £3 billion global market after successfully completing Phase 1 clinical trials for its lead product.

NovaBiotics said the results of the trial of Novexatin, a brush-on treatment for fungal nail infections, were "very encouraging".

The Aberdeen-based firm, which was spun out of the Rowett Institute in 2004, said the recruitment of patients for its Phase 2 trial was nearly complete.

If the trial is successful, NovaBiotics hopes to form a partnership with a pharmaceuticals company to continue clinical development of the product and bring it to market. Talks are under way with a number of potential partners.

Such a licensing agreement would be transformational for the firm, which could return its maiden profit within two years.

Dr Deborah O'Neil, chief executive and founder of NovaBiotics, said: "Phase 2 will replicate what we've successfully done in Phase 1, but over the course of a month rather than just having a look at the safety of a single dose.

"We'll get a lot of the clinical data fairly quickly and the plan is to use that data to partner with a suitable pharmaceutical entity to the later-stage clinical trials and subsequent commercial development of the product. For this product, if you get good data at the Phase 2 stage then it's fairly predictive of clinical success."

The Phase 1 trial involved 12 patients, while Phase 2 is expected to include 48.

Nail fungus affects 12 per cent of people in the developed world.

O'Neil believes the science behind Novexatin has a broad range of potential applications, including fighting blood and deep-tissue yeast and mould infections, cystic fibrosis-related infections and acne and dermal infections.

NovaBiotics has raised 5 million of investment from private equity investors and Scottish Enterprise's venture fund and employs 16 people.

The board includes Professor Andy Porter – the former chief scientific officer at Haptogen who helped oversee its sale to Wyeth– as a non-executive director.