Amakem secures €1.4m grant

Amakem, a kinase platform company focused on ophthalmology, has secured a €1.4m grant from the Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT), to apply its Localised Drug Action technology to the discovery and development of novel kinase inhibitor-based therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

The Belgian company has identified locally active lead molecules acting on a number of kinases that play a role in IBD. The IWT grant will be used for the further development of safe therapeutics that offer the potential to have an impact on a range of factors of the disease including impaired barrier function, inflammation, fibrosis and angiogenesis but without causing systemic side effects.

Amakem aims to develop candidates with in vivo proof of concept in appropriate models of IBD as well as to obtain clear indications for the disease modifying properties of these molecules.

Jack Elands, CEO of Amakem, said: ‘This grant from the IWT again recognises the wide potential of our Localised Drug Action technology to generate highly novel and potentially valuable new drugs across a range of indications. Our core focus remains ophthalmology, with our lead product, AMA0076, progressing through its Phase 2a clinical trial in glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

‘However, this non-dilutive funding provides the resources to generate further value from our platform which, outside ophthalmology, has also delivered proof of concept in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma.’