Beactica wins European Horizon 2020 innovation grant for project targeting aggressive brain tumours

Beactica, the Swedish drug discovery company, today announced that it has been selected as one of the beneficiaries of the SME Instrument Stage 1 grant from the European Horizon 2020 fund to advance its LSD1 programme. This programme aims to develop a novel class of compounds with the potential to radically improve the current treatment of glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour that has high mortality rates and poses a significant burden to healthcare budgets globally.

The Stage 1 grant represents a key step towards a potential additional Stage 2 grant of up to EUR 2.5 million from Horizon 2020. Beactica was selected in the first application round of 2018 and is one of about 250 enterprises that were selected from more than 2000 applicants.

The compounds under development by Beactica regulate LSD1, a target protein that is shown to be relevant for the treatment of several common cancers. Beactica’s novel and potent allosteric LSD1 modulators have a mechanism of action that is fundamentally different from the catalytic LSD1 inhibitors currently in clinical testing, giving unique biological efficacy in several cellular models. The most promising results so far are for the difficult-to-treat glioblastoma, but there is a clear potential for the novel compounds with other, more common forms of cancer.

Beactica will receive EUR 50,000 to be used for a feasibility study leading up to a Horizon 2020 Stage 2 application. Once the in vivo proof-of-concept has been achieved Beactica plans to apply for a Stage 2 grant to further progress the LSD1 programme, and then reach the pharmaceutical market by an agreement with a strong licence partner.

“We’re delighted to receive yet another recognition for our innovative LSD1 programme” said Dr Per Källblad, CEO of Beactica. “The available treatment options for glioblastoma are highly ineffective and our approach has the potential to help cancer patients with an extremely poor prognosis,”

 Beactica’s LSD1 programme has previously been awarded two grants totalling SEK 5 million (>$600 000) by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova).

About Beactica
Beactica AB is a specialist drug discovery company, utilising its proprietary methodologies to evaluate the interactions of molecules in order to generate novel therapeutics. As well as progressing its own drug discovery programmes in areas of unmet medical need, Beactica offers partnerships for fragment-based lead generation using its proprietary discovery platform. Founded in 2006 based on research carried out at Uppsala University, Beactica has established a reputation as a world-leader in fragment-based drug discovery using SPR biosensor technology. For more information on Beactica, please visit www.beactica.com.

Beactica AB Contact
Per Källblad M.Sc. Ph.D.
CEO
per.kallblad@beactica.com
Tel: +46 18 56 08 80

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