An Annapolis company devoted to treating skin diseases is looking to raise $17.5 million after recently completing a $3.3 million funding round.
The over-subscribed Series A funding round gives Alphyn Biologics the resources to complete the phase 2a clinical trial for the company’s main product, AB-101a, a treatment for atopic dermatitis, more commonly known as eczema. Eczema is a common skin condition impacting around 1 in 10 Americans, according to the Cleveland Clinic, so there is a large market for a new treatment.
The investors in Alphyn are concentrated in the Midwest. Cincinnati’s Queen City Angels led the round, with participation from other Ohio companies such as the Angel Physicians Fund and Serial Stage Venture Partners. The round closed in late June/early July.
The company is hoping to build on the success of its Series A round, with plans to close a $17.5 million round in the first quarter of next year, which would fund a third round of clinical trials. That would set the stage for Alphyn’s eczema treatment to achieve Food and Drug Administration approval and hit the market by 2025 or 2026. The additional funding would also give the company the opportunity to start the FDA approval process for a second drug to treat a rare genetic skin condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), which causes fragile blistering skin.
“We really can treat a number of very significant diseases that are underserved,” CEO Neal Koller said.
What makes AB-101a different from current treatments for eczema and EB is that it can help patients deal with multiple effects from eczema, Koller said. Oftentimes, eczema patients can be prescribed three different drugs for the effects of the illness such as steroids for inflammation, antihistamines for the itch and antibiotics for the bacteria, he added. AB-101a can help patients deal with all three of those effects in a single treatment.
“Our drug is targeting not only the standard itching and the inflammation from the immune system, but we're also targeting the bacterial complications,” Koller said.
AB-101a is based on a defense liquid from a tree, a chemical that trees use to try to stop animals from eating them, so it is not an antibiotic or a steroid. The compound is currently used in an oral drug produced by a different company, which means that Alphyn Biologicals is going through the FDA process faster than most of its peers in the health care space, Koller said.
Along with a presence in Annapolis, Alphyn Biologics also has a large presence in Cincinnati, where the company's other three other founders live. One of those founders, Gary Pekoe, led the team that created Bactroban, a common topical antibiotic. Pekoe, the man who created AB-101a, met Koller at a College Park company, Dovetail Technologies, in the early 2000s.
