Madison biopharmaceutical company Dianomi Therapeutics has raised $3 million in funding following a partnership with publicly traded drug company Ligand Pharmaceuticals.
Dianomi announced Tuesday that Ligand invested $3 million in the startup in exchange for a royalty of two or three percent based on net sales for Dianomi's first five products developed using its technology. Ligand will also provide technical and scientific advisory assistance to Dianomi for one year.
Founded in 2017, Dianomi develops treatments for inflammatory diseases such as osteoarthritis. Its technology, licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), harnesses the natural property of mineralized tissues (like bones and teeth) to extend the therapeutic life of biological drugs.
Ultimately, the startup says its drug treatment tech aims to lower dosing and enhance patient compliance, which improves drug safety. The startup's technology includes intellectual property developed by William Murphy, Ph.D., a UW-Madison professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedics & Rehabilitation and the co-founder of Dianomi.
"Traditional approaches for encapsulation and delivery of drugs utilize artificial polymers that often disrupt drug structure and function," Murphy said in a statement. "Our MCM technology overcomes this limitation by providing a matrix that naturally stabilizes the drug, with properties that can be tailored to the drug and its intended application. I am excited to advance this technology toward clinical applications that could benefit patients."
