I-Street; October 2002
Natural Products Harvested by Local Biotech
By Jeff Meredith
CHICAGO - Biotechnology companies are increasingly recognizing the value of naturally-derived products, and Illinois has one of the movement's poster children in its own backyard. Woodridge-based Advanced Life Sciences is a three-year old spinout of MediChem Research, Inc., and the company has built a strong pipeline of clinical and preclinical drug candidates.
Through a partnership with the Government of Sarawak in Malaysia, Advanced Life Sciences is currently pushing Calanolide A, a compound treating HIV as well as tuberculosis, through Phase II clinical trials. The discovery of the compound was made in a rainforest in the state of Sarawak, which has proven to be a gold mine for biotechnology.
"The government of Sarawak was interested in participating in funding to the tune of over $20 million for the past couple of years. They can gain not only from a financial standpoint - if the product makes it to market - but also their country is looking to try to use the rainforest as a resource that can be replenished, as opposed to being utilized for logging or being destroyed in that manner," said John Flavin, CFO of Advanced Life Sciences.
John and his brother Michael, chairman and CEO of the company, have worked together for over 12 years. Their teaming began first at MediChem, which went from being a Chicago Technology Park startup in 1987 to a private placement, an IPO in 2000, and an acquisition by deCODE genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN) earlier this year.
Some families could reach the breaking point when their two lives merge (father, Tom Flavin, also helps the company as a consultant), but John only sees a positive: "We really enjoy it, we've had a great relationship."
Michael Flavin says that Advanced Life Sciences focuses on three therapeutic classes of drugs – those that fight infection, inflammation and cancer.
For inflammation, Advanced Life Sciences has a compound, ALS-886, which recently received FDA approval to move into clinical trials. The drug has demonstrated a reduction in lung vascular tissue damage associated with Acute Respiratory Distress. Often seem in trauma victims, the condition has a mortality rate in excess of 50 percent. With only invasive ventilation treatment methods currently available, Michael Flavin notes there is no therapeutic - like the oral formulation ALS is developing - on the market.
A third Advanced Life Sciences product, nearing clinical trials, is a cancer drug that could treat malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
"It is a natural product isolated from birch bark and our expertise in working with the natural products is using medicinal chemistry to be able to synthesize that molecule and continue to optimize its properties so it can be a drug in the clinic," said John Flavin.
The rights to develop the compound, called betulinic acid, were licensed from the University of Illinois at Chicago. A UIC research team discovered betulinic acid's therapeutic properties as part of a collaborative drug discovery group supported by the National Cancer Institute. The compound was originally taken from the stem bark of a plant in Zimbabwe, but researchers found that the active agent was more accessible in birch bark.
Collaborative arrangements between industry, academia and government will be a key to the company's success, notes Michael Flavin.
"You have to be very cost effective about the ways you manage your programs. Having some variability to the cost structure allows you flexibility when the capital markets are tight," he said.
As the Flavins push Advanced Life Sciences forward, they'll be building a name for themselves in more ways than one. In June, the company was granted a broad patent for its "Biflavanoids," a class of compounds - also derived from natural products - which have developed biological activity in treating Hepatitis B and other viral diseases.
Advanced Life Sciences recently presented at iBIO and the Illinois Venture Capital Conference. The company is currently looking to raise $10 million in equity financing, a round the Flavins expect to complete by the end of the year.
Natural Products Harvested by Local Biotech
By Jeff Meredith
CHICAGO - Biotechnology companies are increasingly recognizing the value of naturally-derived products, and Illinois has one of the movement's poster children in its own backyard. Woodridge-based Advanced Life Sciences is a three-year old spinout of MediChem Research, Inc., and the company has built a strong pipeline of clinical and preclinical drug candidates.
Through a partnership with the Government of Sarawak in Malaysia, Advanced Life Sciences is currently pushing Calanolide A, a compound treating HIV as well as tuberculosis, through Phase II clinical trials. The discovery of the compound was made in a rainforest in the state of Sarawak, which has proven to be a gold mine for biotechnology.
"The government of Sarawak was interested in participating in funding to the tune of over $20 million for the past couple of years. They can gain not only from a financial standpoint - if the product makes it to market - but also their country is looking to try to use the rainforest as a resource that can be replenished, as opposed to being utilized for logging or being destroyed in that manner," said John Flavin, CFO of Advanced Life Sciences.
John and his brother Michael, chairman and CEO of the company, have worked together for over 12 years. Their teaming began first at MediChem, which went from being a Chicago Technology Park startup in 1987 to a private placement, an IPO in 2000, and an acquisition by deCODE genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN) earlier this year.
Some families could reach the breaking point when their two lives merge (father, Tom Flavin, also helps the company as a consultant), but John only sees a positive: "We really enjoy it, we've had a great relationship."
Michael Flavin says that Advanced Life Sciences focuses on three therapeutic classes of drugs – those that fight infection, inflammation and cancer.
For inflammation, Advanced Life Sciences has a compound, ALS-886, which recently received FDA approval to move into clinical trials. The drug has demonstrated a reduction in lung vascular tissue damage associated with Acute Respiratory Distress. Often seem in trauma victims, the condition has a mortality rate in excess of 50 percent. With only invasive ventilation treatment methods currently available, Michael Flavin notes there is no therapeutic - like the oral formulation ALS is developing - on the market.
A third Advanced Life Sciences product, nearing clinical trials, is a cancer drug that could treat malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
"It is a natural product isolated from birch bark and our expertise in working with the natural products is using medicinal chemistry to be able to synthesize that molecule and continue to optimize its properties so it can be a drug in the clinic," said John Flavin.
The rights to develop the compound, called betulinic acid, were licensed from the University of Illinois at Chicago. A UIC research team discovered betulinic acid's therapeutic properties as part of a collaborative drug discovery group supported by the National Cancer Institute. The compound was originally taken from the stem bark of a plant in Zimbabwe, but researchers found that the active agent was more accessible in birch bark.
Collaborative arrangements between industry, academia and government will be a key to the company's success, notes Michael Flavin.
"You have to be very cost effective about the ways you manage your programs. Having some variability to the cost structure allows you flexibility when the capital markets are tight," he said.
As the Flavins push Advanced Life Sciences forward, they'll be building a name for themselves in more ways than one. In June, the company was granted a broad patent for its "Biflavanoids," a class of compounds - also derived from natural products - which have developed biological activity in treating Hepatitis B and other viral diseases.
Advanced Life Sciences recently presented at iBIO and the Illinois Venture Capital Conference. The company is currently looking to raise $10 million in equity financing, a round the Flavins expect to complete by the end of the year.
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