Overview of Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, is engaged in the development of innovative human therapeutics to treat liver disease and cancer. Chronic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and can be caused by many different injuries to the liver including Hepatitis C and other viral infections, obesity, chronic alcohol abuse or autoimmune diseases. Conatus was founded by the executive management team of Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2005 following the successful sale of Idun to Pfizer. In July of 2010, Conatus and Pfizer completed an agreement for Conatus to acquire Pfizer's Idun subsidiary.
Idun Pharmaceuticals was a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative human therapeutics to control apoptosis. Apoptosis is a ubiquitous and fundamental genetically controlled pathway of programmed cell death that occurs in both normal and disease states. Excessive or insufficient rates of apoptosis contribute to a broad range of diseases including liver disease and cancer. The Idun assets reacquired from Pfizer included a Phase 2 drug candidate in liver disease (emricasan/IDN-6556), preclinical drug candidates including IDN-7314 for oncology, a development agreement with Abbott for an oncology drug candidate (now in Phase 2), and key intellectual property in the field of apoptosis.
We are developing a new class of drugs that modulate caspases (cell death proteases) involved in the apoptosis and inflammation pathways. Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases that become activated by apoptotic and pro-inflammatory stimuli. Apoptosis and inflammation have been implicated in a number of diseases including liver diseases, inflammatory diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes.
We have designed small molecule, orally active, caspase inhibitors to block apoptosis of cells in a variety of organ systems. Our lead drug, emricasan, is a novel and proprietary caspase inhibitor that is being evaluated in clinical trials to determine its usefulness as a broad antifibrotic drug in delaying or preventing the progression of hepatitis to cirrhosis and other conditions that may destroy the liver.
Positive Phase 2 data have indicated that the oral formulation of emricasan was well tolerated, and significantly improved key markers of liver damage in patients chronically infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Currently, safe and effective antifibrotic drugs are not yet available to treat a multitude of liver diseases.
We have a strong track record of success with collaborative drug discovery partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies, validating our proprietary targets and generating highly active lead compounds for clinical development. Since inception, we have raised $60.0 million in equity funding, and with the acquisition of Idun, reestablished the collaboration with Abbott Laboratories in cancer. We may also recognize future financial benefits in the form of royalties and milestone payments from drugs under development through this collaborative relationship.
We have a leadership position in intellectual property related to apoptosis. We have ongoing relationships with thought leaders in the field of apoptosis as well as in our targeted disease areas. We possess an extensive patent portfolio comprised of over 130 issued patents including patents covering composition of matter on validated drug targets and new chemical entities (NCEs) addressing those targets, as well as, broad fields of use, drug-screening assays, diagnostics and antibodies.
Corporate Strategy
Conatus is building a biopharmaceutical company that is focused in the areas of liver disease and oncology. Conatus has developed a novel drug development candidate, emricasan, which has had considerable clinical experience in target disease populations. Conatus has also developed lead molecules against validated targets in oncology, as well as an extensive license and patent portfolio, and potential milestone payments and royalties on compounds being developed in oncology by Abbott and Roche/Genentech, which is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.
The key elements of our strategy are to:
- Establish caspase inhibitors as a new class of drugs that are safe, effective, and cost efficient, and whose mechanism of action will allow use alone to meet unmet medical needs, or in combination with existing therapies to improve standard of care. Caspases are cysteine protease enzymes that become activated by apoptotic and pro-inflammatory stimuli. These stimuli can come from many sources including cytotoxic drugs, ischemia/reperfusion events, viral infections and radiation. Excessive apoptosis and inflammation is implicated in many diseases. A caspase inhibitor is a small molecule drug intended to interfere with the cascade of events that initiate the cell death process.
- Develop our lead drug candidate, emricasan/IDN-6556 as a first-in-class, antifibrotic drug for a wide variety of diseases of the liver. IDN-6556 is a potent inhibitor of the key caspase enzymes that mediate apoptosis. We have observed compelling clinical trial results that, in consultation with experts in the field, suggest that our drug may have clinical utility in slowing or ideally reversing the progression of many liver diseases regardless of the source of the insult. We intend to study this drug broadly in multiple human clinical trials.
- Advance additional internal preclinical drugs into clinical trials. We have created a franchise in the science of apoptosis based on our technical expertise, our drugs under development, and our intellectual property. Internally and with our partners, we are developing drugs against apoptosis targets that are designed to treat cancer. We plan to monitor clinical development of ABT-263 while advancing IDN-7314 into clinical trials in oncology as a potential novel application of caspase inhibition in cancer.
- Maximize financial returns to stockholders through: 1) a cost-efficient organization consisting of highly-experienced employees in liver disease and oncology, and 2) a balanced evaluation of exit opportunities including the sale of a drug candidate, commercialization partnerships, retained commercialization rights of some or all of our drugs, or sale of the entire company.
- Exploit our extensive patent portfolio to maintain freedom to operate and create revenue generating licensing opportunities. We have built a broad portfolio of intellectual property to protect our unique apoptosis franchise. We have over 130 issued patents and over 100 applications pending, covering, among other items, our compounds and six gene families related to apoptosis that have emerged as viable drug targets.