Lophora has been granted a $1.5M convertible loan by the Novo Nordisk Foundation to advance their first-in-class lead candidate LPH-5.
In early 2020, Lophora was successfully accepted into the Creation House program at BioInnovation Institute and granted a $1.5M convertible loan by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Lophora will now advance their lead candidate LPH-5 through pre-clinical development in order to de-risk the compound prior to the initiation of first-in-human studies towards the end of 2021. Amongst other things, this involves the large-scale production of LPH-5, followed by a detailed characterization of the molecule’s safety profile, which is a key regulatory requirement prior to initiating clinical studies.
A preliminary toxicology evaluation in rodents showed that LPH-5 has a promising safety profile – no morbidity, mortality, clinical signs of toxicity or gross pathology findings – with LPH-5 appearing to be safe even at high doses and exposures in rodents. A similar non-rodent study is scheduled for Q2 2020 in preparation for a full Dose-Response Finding/Maximum Tolerated Dose (DRF/MTD) study in Q3 2020.
The company is now seeking to raise a small funding round to support completion of the pre-clinical development program. “We’re very thankful to the BioInnovation Institute for the seed investment and vote of confidence.” states Lophora’s CEO, Mr. Bo Tandrup. “With the initial toxicology work showing promise, we feel that we are well positioned to raise enough capital to advance development of LPH-5 to IND.