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Biovista is a drug repositioning company established in 1993 with offices in Charlottesville VA, USA and Athens,
Greece. Biovista's repositioning programs leverage the company's technology platform to identify suitable drugs
and reposition them in isolation or in combination with other drugs to therapeutic areas that are currently not
covered by existing products.
By selecting drugs that already satisfy basic toxicity, ADME and related criteria, Biovista is able to deliver
significant value at reduced cost and in dramatically shorter time frames than is normally the case. Biovista's
technology not only repositions drugs but also de-risks them, by profiling potential adverse events before these
happen. Therefore the technology together with the benefit, addresses the risk side of the equation, namely the
adverse effects profile, making for much more balanced predictions of the clinical outcome of the repositioned
drug.
The company has initiated its own drug repositioning efforts in several conditions, where the drugs profiled
and screened meet two major criteria:
- they display significant biological plausibility as potential therapies for the new indications and
- there is no prior art in the patent or scientific literature linking them to the new indications.
In addition, drugs are screened for at least equivalent efficacy with current standards of treatment,
and with equal or lower risk profiles.
Biovista products are developed using its proprietary Discovery AlgorithmicsTM platform.
Discovery AlgorithmicsTM is running off one of the world's largest MySQL databases. Currently at over
4 billion rows and 19 million records, this resource supports the company's own repositioning program
as well as diverse client projects ranging from AE profiling to clinical hold situations.
The company has an active R&D program that aims to deliver high value treatments as well as tool
and services in support of the life sciences industry. Biovista's current repositioning program is
focused on CNS and eye disorders with additional therapeutic areas being added in 2010.
Since September 2008 Biovista has submitted 5 patent applications on 12 drugs, in multiple
sclerosis (MS), epilepsy and macular degeneration (AMD). BVA-101 and BVA-201 have shown
statistically significant efficacy in animal models of MS and the company is currently
exploring out-licensing opportunities. The company is currently running efficacy experiments
for all its repositioning programs.
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Biovista's network of clients and collaborators includes large biotech and pharma companies as well as
top-tier universities in the US and Europe. Biovista's clients include: Millipore, Promega, Wyeth, Qiagen,
Biogen Idec, Novo Nordisk, Novus Biosciences, Cempra, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania,
UC Davis and University Hospital of the Saarland. Collaborators within EU projects include Unilever,
France Telecom, EBI, IBM, EMBL, Fraunhoffer-IPSI, Universities of Liverpool, Geneva, UPM, Manchester,
Innsbruck and others. In January 2010 Biovista announced its collaboration with the FDA on the prediction
of Adverse Events.
Biovista's business model has two parts: (1) discover patentable new uses for existing drugs,
validate these with animal models, and license these drugs for further development (Phase IIa),
and (2) perform fee-for-service drug de-risking or repositioning for other drug development companies.
Biovista plans to place 20 drugs in medically and commercially relevant new uses under patent in
the next 18 months, including proof of concept animal models. Biovista's drugs, because they have
been re-positioned from other uses, are largely proven safe for use in humans, enabling them in
general to enter directly efficacy Phase II(a) trials.
Biovista is seeking business development opportunities of 2 kinds:
- Collaborations with biotech and pharma companies in connection with its drug repositioning
program and services. The company is looking either for partners who will acquire Biovista IP
with the goal of further developing it into a drug (either internally or through the creation
of NewCos) or engage Biovista for its repositioning and Adverse Event prediction services in
connection with the partner's own drug development efforts. Biovista's current IP is in the
area of CNS diseases as well as AMD. Additional TAs will be added in the second half of 2009.
- Investment: Biovista is seeking to raise US$ 20-40M to accelerate and broaden its present
repositioning program. The proceeds will be used almost exclusively to generate patents for
repositioned drugs ready to enter Phase IIa trials. Biovista has already raised in late 2008
and 2009 US$ 3+ M from investors and its own revenue stream in the US for the purpose of
creating its current IP portfolio.
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USA
Tel.: +1.434.971.1141
Fax: +1.434.971.1144
Address: 2421 Ivy Road,
Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
EU
Tel.: +30 210 9629848
Fax: +30 210 9647606
Address: European Offices:
34 Rodopoleos Street, Ellinikon,
Athens 16777, HELLAS
E-mail:
Web: www.biovista.com
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