March was a big month for multiple Russo Partners clients in terms of clinical trial data presentations and announcements. Specifically:
Calixa Therapeutics, a San Diego start-up under the watch of investor Domain Associates and antibiotic development expert Dr. James Ge, reported positive Phase I results for a novel intravenous cephalosporin. The key to this compound is its performance against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes nasty infections and for which there is nothing today in drug companies’ pipelines. Calixa’s plans call for the quick entry into the clinic in a Phase II study of the compound.
Corthera, a San Mateo, Calif., company also backed by Domain Associates , enjoyed a strong showing at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session with the presentation of Phase II data for relaxin, which the company is developing for the treatment of acute heart failure. The study’s principal investigator, Dr. John Teerlink, presented the data on the main stage of the conference as part of a late-breaker abstract session. Not only did the promising data turn heads of the several hundred heart failure specialists in attendance, it caught the eye of Forbes‘ Matt Herper, who included relaxin and its interesting premise in a conference round-up.
Rounding out the m0nth, Cambridge, Mass.-based Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticalsannounced its complete data set for the Phase II study of radiopharmaceutical imaging agent Zemiva. The impressive results demonstrated the ability of Zemiva imaging, when combined with the initial clinical information obtained in emergency department assessments of patients, greatly improved sensitivity of detection compared to the assessments alone. Zemiva’s study results were captured in several articles by prominent news outlets, including Reuters.
The second quarter, with its full slate of medical conferences, is expected to be an active one in terms of additional clinical trial data presentations for Russo Partners’ clients. We’ll capture the findings in future posts.
