Ghent, Belgium, 31 August 2022 – V-Bio Ventures portfolio company Biodol Therapeutics, a French biotech company developing next-generation neuropathic pain treatments, announces the nomination of its first preclinical candidate. The company aims to advance into IND-Enabling studies, initiating Phase 1 studies in the second half of 2023.
Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition with only few treatment options to date. Limited efficacy and debilitating side effects are common with current therapeutics. Biodol Therapeutics is tackling neuropathic pain in a novel way, by targeting the neuro-immune interface. The compound has shown exceptional activity in a wide range of preclinical pain models combined with an excellent safety profile.
Biodol Therapeutics has identified FLT3 (a Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (RTK)), as a key player for triggering and maintaining chronic neuropathic pain. Biodol Therapeutics has shown that inhibiting FLT3 reduces the three main symptoms of neuropathic pain (allodynia, pain hypersensitivity, and spontaneous pain), without affecting normal nervous system functioning. The company’s candidate is a small-molecule allosteric FLT3 inhibitor, suitable for chronic oral administration and without the safety limitations of less specific intracellular kinase inhibitors.
The company has gathered a highly favorable pharmacology and safety data package, with validation in multiple pathophysiological models of neuropathic pain. Following the validation by external experts – and thanks to its Series A fundraising in 2020 with the support of V-Bio Ventures – the company can now start Regulatory Preclinical Development before entering clinical phases.
The attractive profile of the compound enables the company to move forward and pursue its program up to its investigational new drug (IND) application. In parallel, Biodol Therapeutics is finalizing its clinical plan together with its network of medical experts. These clinical trials will be funded via a Series B round, expected in 2023.
About V-Bio Ventures
V-Bio Ventures (www.v-bio.ventures) is an independent venture capital firm specialized in building and financing young, innovative life science companies. V-Bio Ventures was established in 2015 and works closely with Belgium-based VIB, one of the world’s premier life science institutes. The fund invests throughout Europe in start-up and early-stage companies with high growth potential, focusing on technologies that provide transformational improvements in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and agricultural sectors.
About Biodol Therapeutics
Biodol Therapeutics (www.biodol.eu), founded in 2015, develops first-in-class compounds for the treatment of chronic pain (CP). Biodol Therapeutics has identified the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (RTK) FLT3 as a key player for triggering and maintaining the chronic neuropathic pain (NP) state. The company is focused on the development of allosteric inhibitors of the FLT3 receptor for the treatment of chronic pain. Biodol Therapeutics already owns the exclusive rights on a portfolio of 4 patents. The company has been supported by BPI France, Satt AxLR, Inserm Transfert, Region Occitanie, the French National Research Agency, SEMIA Incubator and Montpellier Business and Innovation Centre.
