Blueberry Therapeutics bags £10M to push dermatology nanomedicines

Athlete’s foot and fungal nail infections aren’t the types of diseases that tend to get investors’ hearts pumping, but that’s not stopping Blueberry Therapeutics. The U.K.-based startup reeled in £10 million ($12.7 million) in series B funding that will, among other things, advance its nanomedicine candidate for these two fungal infections. 

The company’s goal is to discover, develop and market nanomedicines that will surmount existing efficacy, tolerability and safety challenges. It focuses on skin and nail infections as "there is a significant clinical need for treatments with improved efficacy, safety, tolerability and patient compliance," Blueberry said in a statement. 

Its lead candidate, BB2603, is a nanoformulated form of the antifungal treatment terbinafine. It is currently in a phase 2 dose-finding study and is poised to enter phase 3 trials in the U.S. and EU for the fungal infection onychomycosis. Blueberry uses nanotechnology to improve delivery of terbinafine to target fungal infections under the nail. With this fine-tuned delivery, it hopes to avoid the systemic side effects and patient monitoring requirements of orally delivered terbinafine. 

The series B funding will advance the development of BB2603 for onychomycosis and athlete’s foot, as well as that of its earlier-stage programs in acne, atopic dermatitis and topical analgesia, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Its backers include China Medical Venture Investment (HK), a wholly owned subsidiary of the pharma company China Medical System Holdings, and A&B (HK), a medical device maker based in Hong Kong, S.A.R., China. 

"We are very pleased to be shareholders in Blueberry Therapeutics and to be able to support the management team in its quest to deliver high value innovative medicines for patients suffering from a range of dermatological disorders and we look forward to collaborating in the development of the Company’s products," said Lam Kong, chairman and CEO of China Medical System. 

If all goes well, Blueberry hopes to file an NDA for BB2603 in 2020 and launch in the U.S. in 2021, said CEO John Ridden, in a video. 

And while they’ve started in the "unsexy" domain of foot fungus, the firm’s long-term goal is to tackle antibiotic resistance, Ridden said. And instead of relying on investor backing to advance expensive antibiotics programs, Blueberry plans to bankroll them with revenue from its fungal infection stable. 

"These aren’t sexy diseases, but they are big diseases and they impact a lot of people," he said in the video. "They’re also high medical need, high commercial potential. Markets in the U.S. are $3 billion, thereabouts, for onychomycosis. $3 billion for acne. So if we can get a winning drug into those markets, we can generate the revenues that will allow us to invest in part 2 … new antibiotics."

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