Okklo receives RedMedTech Ventures funding and extends collaboration with Sanquin

Nijmegen/Amsterdam, May 14 2016 

 

RedMedTech Ventures funding enables further development of cyclodextrines.

Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation and Okklo Life Sciences BV extend their cardiovascular program.

Okklo Life Sciences BV and Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation (Amsterdam) announced today that they are going to expand their research and licensing agreement. Funding from RedMedTech Ventures allows the parties to further develop their cyclodextrin molecules for the treatment of cardiovascular conditions.

In an initial research program, Okklo and Sanquin collectively designed and developed a series of custom made cyclodextrins for use as antidote against a wide variety of anticoagulants or for treatment of bleeding disorders like hemophilia. In less than one year after the start of this program, impressive in vitro and in vivo efficacy data have been obtained for these novel cyclodextrins. The promising data were reason for RedMedTech Ventures to grant funding for the further development of the molecules.

“The funding we received from RedMedTech Ventures is a valuable recognition of our work on therapeutic cyclodextrins, and will help us enormously to find a co-development partner in the near future”, comments Alex Zwiers, Chief Operating Officer at Okklo. “We look forward to continue our extremely fruitful collaboration with Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation”.

Okklo employs two strategic ways in the design and development of their therapeutic cyclodextrins. By means of in silico modeling, cyclodextrins with specific pharmacological properties are designed. In addition, Okklo has a unique library of proprietary cyclodextrins that can be used for screening purposes. For the novel cyclodextrins in the cardiovascular program with Sanquin IP has been filed in Q1 2016.

 

Okklo Life Sciences BV is a privately held company located in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and is developing new therapeutics based on cyclodextrins as the active ingredient. Currently, Okklo’s own pre-clinical programs focus on two separate therapeutic areas with high unmet medical need: hemostasis and lysosomal storage diseases. www.okklo.com

 

Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation is responsible for safe and efficient blood supply in the Netherlands on a not-for-profit basis. This is possible because hundreds of thousands of donors voluntarily give blood. The core activity is safe and efficient production and distribution of blood and plasma products for the treatment of patients. Sanquin also develops and produces pharmaceutical products, conducts high-quality scientific research, and develops and performs a multitude of diagnostic services. Continuous research and innovation lead to new and improved products and services. www.sanquin.nl

 

RedMedTech Ventures is a support program for Life Science & Health start-ups, funded by the Dutch provinces of Gelderland, Overijssel and Noord-Brabant. www.redmedtechventures.nl

 

 

For more information, please contact:

Alex Zwiers, Okklo Life Sciences

alex.zwiers@okklo.com

phone +31 6 1048 9150

 

Robert Heckert, Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation

r.heckert@sanquin.nl


phone +31 20 512 3998