Overview of Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative human therapeutic drugs to treat liver disease. Conatus was founded in 2005 by the senior management team of Idun Pharmaceuticals, following the successful sale of Idun to Pfizer, Inc. The Idun team, having previously focused in the development of treatments for liver disease, believed they could continue in that area of expertise at Conatus.
In 2007, Conatus completed the initial $5.5 million closing of a two-tranche financing with veteran investors Aberdare Ventures, Advent Venture Partners, Bay City Capital and Gilde Healthcare Partners. The second, $22 million tranche also closed in 2007.
The investment capital allowed Conatus to gain the exclusive rights and initiate internal development of a novel clinical stage drug candidate for the treatment of liver disease associated with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. The drug candidate, CTS-1027, is a matrix metalloprotease (MMP) inhibitor that was owned by Hoffman LaRoche (Roche) and initially studied as a treatment for osteoarthritis. The drug candidate was particularly attractive since Roche had devoted substantial resources to its development and had conducted a number of clinical trials indicating acceptable safety in that patient population. Roche became a stockholder in Conatus as a result of the license agreement.
Conatus was able to demonstrate positive activity in preclinical models of liver disease and initially focused on the potential anti-inflammatory characteristics of MMP inhibition. Observations made during the initial Phase 2 clinical trial, data from our laboratory and data from the literature, taken together, suggest a potentially broader and more important role for an MMP inhibitor in chronic Hepatitis C. We believe it is possible for an MMP inhibitor to therapeutically impact one or more of the survival strategies used by the Hepatitis C Virus.
Conatus is currently conducting two Phase 2 clinical trials with CTS-1027 alone or in combination with current standard of care drugs for the treatment of HCV. Results are expected to be available in late 2010 and in 2011.
Conatus also continues to evaluate other drug development candidates that may be complementary to our current program.