Charlesson’s CRO helps in-house activities
Charlesson has expertise in the creation of treatments for the back of the eye and is using this to offer preclinical work to test safety and efficacy of anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic compounds that are in development for treating retinal diseases.
Mostafa Analoui, senior vice president at Charlesson, explained that the company’s contract research business had experienced rapid growth since it launched two years ago and had good profit margins.
The company still has to raise money from other sources, and has received $10m in federal grants, but the benefits of offering preclinical services extend beyond revenues.
Analoui explained that venture capitalists liked the contract research sector of the business because it increases utilisation of resources and provides additional revenue.
In addition, by entering into preclinical service deals with companies Charlesson builds relationships and raises its profile in the industry.
These relationships could prove useful as the company develops its in-house product candidates, one of which is in late-stage preclinical and will be the topic of a regulatory meeting in the near future.
DME treatment
Charlesson’s lead candidate is a treatment for diabetic macular edema (DME), a difficult to treat disease that affects the back of the eye and has attracted interest from several big pharma companies.
The treatment is a small molecule that has been formulated into nanoparticles to ensure controlled and long lasting release of the therapeutic.
Preclinical studies have demonstrated that the treatment reduces retinal vascular leakage and inflammation. Analoui added that Charlesson will decide between two formulations in coming weeks and proceed with the molecules development.
