29 August 2012

A new treatment from a University of Queensland start-up company, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, could bring hope to shingles sufferers experiencing nerve pain.

A recent clinical trial of the company’s lead product, EMA401, showed promising results in treating the pain, medically known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).

The results were presented at the 14th World Congress of Pain® in Milan, a major international meeting organised by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP®).

David Henderson, Managing Director of UQ’s main research commercialisation company, UniQuest, said the clinical trial results marked a major milestone for Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, which UniQuest formed in 2005.

“UQ’s Professor Maree Smith and her colleagues have developed new possibilities to help doctors relieve patients of this extremely debilitating nerve pain,” he said.

“As many as one in four people contract shingles in their lifetime and about 20 per cent of them will experience PHN, but there’s no single treatment available that works for all of them without dose-limiting side-effects.

“Elderly people have twice the risk of contracting shingles, so the global ageing population trend has prompted predictions that the market for neuropathic pain treatments will exceed US$6 billion in the next five years.

“With EMA401 being developed as a potential first-in-class oral treatment for neuropathic pain and related symptoms, Spinifex is on track to have a significant impact on this healthcare sector.

“And particularly rewarding for UniQuest is that the original discovery, upon which Spinifex Pharmaceuticals is based, was one of the winners of our very first Trailblazer innovative and entrepreneurial ideas competition at UQ, and we celebrating the winners of the 10th Trailblazer competition right now.”

Spinifex Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr Tom McCarthy said it was tremendously gratifying for the Spinifex team to have taken a scientific discovery through to proof of clinical concept in what is a notoriously difficult field and one where new treatments are clearly needed.

“We look forward to advancing EMA401 further in PHN, other neuropathic pain indications, and eventually as a broad treatment for chronic pain in general,” he said.

Spinifex’s clinical program for EMA401 is currently recruiting for a Phase 2 study in the treatment of neuropathic pain in cancer chemotherapy patients. More information about Spinifex Pharmaceuticals’ drug development programs can be found on this website, www.spinifexpharma.com.au.

Media: Leanne Wyvill +61 7 3365 4037, 0409 767 199 or l.wyvill@uniquest.com.au

Commercial: Dr Tom McCarthy, CEO Spinifex Pharmaceuticals +61 (0) 3 9938 1205, +44 (0) 20 7638 9571 or tom.mccarthy@spinifexpharma.com.au

About Spinifex Pharmaceuticals www.spinifexpharma.com.au
Spinifex Pharmaceuticals is an Australian biotechnology company developing new drug candidates for the treatment and management of pain. Established in 2005 and based in Melbourne, Spinifex has applied its world-class drug development capabilities to advance product candidates. Its lead product EMA401 is under development as a potential first-in-class oral treatment for neuropathic pain and related symptoms without CNS side effects. Spinifex’s Phase 2 program for EMA401 includes clinical trials in a number of neuropathic pain conditions. Spinifex investors are GBS Venture Partners, Brandon Capital Partners, Uniseed and UniQuest.

About UniQuest Pty Limited www.uniquest.com.au
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia’s largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. From an intellectual property portfolio of 1500+ patents it has created over 70 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than A$450 million to take university technologies to market. Annual sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are running at A$3 billion. UniQuest now commercialises innovations developed at The University of Queensland and its commercialisation partner institutions: University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University, University of Tasmania, Mater Medical Research Institute, and Queensland Health. A recent addition to the company is the Queensland Government-supported ilab technology business incubator and accelerator. UniQuest also provides access to an expansive and exclusive network of independent academics to tailor a consulting or project R&D solution to meet the diverse needs of industry and government, facilitating some 500 consulting, expert opinion, testing, and contract research services each year. UniQuest is also a leading Australasian provider of international development assistance recognised for excellence in technical leadership, management and research. Working with agencies such as AusAID, NZAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, UniQuest has developed and implemented more than 400 projects in 60+ countries throughout the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa.