Protinhi Therapeutics is awarded €7.5 Million by the EIC Accelerator program
• The funding will be dedicated to developing our broad-spectrum pan-flavi antiviral drug PTL244 to clinical phase II stage for the most common flavivirus: dengue.
• Dengue is endemic in more than 100 countries (a.o. Singapore, Brazil, Thailand and India) and 400 million people get infected annually. Currently, there is no treatment nor a fully effective vaccine available.
• Local transmissions of dengue have already been reported in Europe and the US in recent years. Flaviviral outbreaks are expected to surge in the future due to global warming and travelling.
Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1 st May 2023: Protinhi Therapeutics, a preclinical stage Netherlands-based biopharmaceutical company, specialized in protease inhibition against viral infectious diseases, today announced that it has been awarded a blended financing totaling €7.5 million from European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. The EIC is Europe’s flagship innovation programme to develop and scale up game-changing innovations. This EIC funding will be one part of the financial resources backing Protinhi to obtain the initial clinical Proof-of-Concept of its candidate PTL-244 in dengue – the most endemic virus among the flavivirus family. This dengue clinical data will support the further development of PTL-244 to a broad-spectrum antiviral drug against other flaviviruses, including West Nile and Zika.
Protinhi is currently raising an international series-A investment and is seeking strategic partnerships to advance the clinical development of its proprietary drug candidates, against flaviviruses such as dengue, West Nile and Zika. The EIC funding is one part of this series-A, which will enable Protinhi to fulfill its mission to bring effective broad-spectrum antivirals to patients and people at risk of acquiring these diseases.
“Protinhi is proud and grateful to be awarded the EIC Accelerator by the European Commission. With this financial support we will initiate the clinical development of a novel broad-spectrum antiviral drug which in our view is a gamechanger in future pandemic prevention.” Commented Bernd van Buuren, CEO of Protinhi Therapeutics.
The flavivirus family regularly challenges global health, including Europe and the US
The flavivirus family is one of the virus families that have a high potential to cause the next pandemic. Dengue, Zika and West Nile viruses all belong to this family, and collectively put > 40% of the global population at risk, annually resulting in over 400M infections, > 25,000 deaths of which largely children, 750.000 disability-adjusted life years and > €10B direct and indirect healthcare burdens. Dengue and Zika are endemic in tropical and subtropical countries where around 120 million western travelers go to every year. This has led to a growing number of imported infections and local transmissions of these flaviviruses in both Europe and the US. There is still no fully effective vaccine or treatment available against these viruses. It is therefore essential to develop broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that can effectively block the spread and reduce disease burden of these viruses.
Protinhi participated in the Venture Challenge in 2012.
Source: https://www.protinhi.com/
