The DC Consulting team, led by Angus Hay, has successfully assisted NovaBiotics Limited in securing an equity investment of £1.1 million. The investment was made by both existing shareholders in the company and by new sources of funds introduced by DC Consulting, including Discovery Investment Fund, TRIcap and Aurora Private Equity. After the successful completion of the transaction, NovaBiotics announced regulatory and ethics clearance had been obtained to commence clinical trials of its lead product Novexatin.
NovaBiotics, based in Aberdeen, provides a unique commercial opportunity for investors, with a platform technology that has the potential to meet the current and future unmet medical need for effective, safe and resistance-free antifungal and antibacterial therapeutics.
Nail fungus is a disease of the toe and finger nails and surrounding skin, affecting upwards of 12% of the global population. This rate of infection equates to a total potential market worth in excess of $5bn, in a global anti-infectives market worth circa $80bn per annum. However, this market is presently poorly served, with the efficacy and safety shortcomings of current therapies being so significant that only a limited number of patients can be treated.
The company’s short-term aim is the commercialisation of its lead product Novexatin. The investment was required in order to take Novexatin through a “first in man” clinical study (phase I and phase IIa) trials and secure clinical data, which is anticipated to take 9 months (subject to regulatory approvals).
In addition to Novexatin, NovaBiotics has engineered, discovered and protected the ownership of a number of novel, bioavailable, safe, bactericidal and fungicidal peptides and small molecule botanical antifungals. The Company’s platform technology boasts a pipeline which includes candidate treatments for systemic fungal disease, respiratory bacterial infections including those associated with cystic fibrosis, acne, and hospital acquired community and resistant bacterial infections (e.g. MRSA).
Once clinical studies have been successfully completed, NovaBiotics intends to licence their product to an appropriate trade partner for onward development and commercialisation.
Further information can be obtained at www.novabiotics.co.uk