Bio-based chemicals to attract $1 bn investment

The bio-based materials and chemicals industry is poised to attract nearly $1 billion in investment this year, led notably by later-stage funding rounds, according to Lux Research. The estimated $974 million investment represents a 28% increase from 2013, suggesting companies that endured the waves of economic disruption have gained maturity and regained investors’ confidence.

“Over the last two years, funding for bio-based materials and chemicals has shifted decisively toward later-stage rounds, reflecting the growing maturing of the industry and the shift from R&D to production,” said Meraldo Antonio, Lux Research Associate and the lead author of the report titled, ‘Dynamics of venture capital funding in the bio-based chemicals industry’

Telormedix's lead product Vesimune gets European patent

Telormedix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focussed on TLR7 agonists in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, has been granted the European Patent No. 2393474 entitled "Pharmaceutical compositions comprising imidazoquinolin (amines) and derivatives thereof suitable for local administration" by the European Patent Office.

The European patent, which will expire in 2030, broadly covers Telormedix’s lead product Vesimune (TMX-101) and its use for the treatment of bladder cancer. Further patents for Telormedix’s Vesimune have also recently been granted in China and Australia.

,Vesimune is Telormedix’s lead product, a TLR-7 agonist currently has successfully completed a phase II trial in CIS (carcinoma in situ) of the bladder. The product is a unique sterile liquid formulation of a marketed immune modulatory compound, designed on innovative technology principles to carrier drug delivery systems in order to increase solubility, bio-adhesiveness and stability. These properties mean that the product can be used in therapeutic settings that the original product could not.