BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - Thiakis Ltd. raised £10 million in its first round of funding, enabling it to take the lead product, an analogue of a naturally occurring gut hormone, to Phase IIb testing in obesity.

Although the market is rough, there was a lot of interest in the round, John Burt, CEO told BioWorld International. "We have a very strong story, including clinical data that support our programs."

Burt added that the company got "an acceptable valuation" and the sum raised was more than the company was aiming for.

The round was led by Novo A/S with Advent Venture Partners. Other new investors included the UK Royal Society, Consensus Business Group and NPI Ventures. The founding shareholder, Imperial Innovations, also participated.

Thiakis' technology is based on research by Steve Bloom in gut hormones and appetite control, carried out at Imperial College London. The company has rights to two hormones, oxyntomodulin and PYY3-36, and to analogues discovered by Bloom.

Clinical studies conducted by Bloom showed that oxyntomodulin not only leads to significant weight loss, but also increases energy expenditure.

The hormone is released after eating in proportion to calorie intake. Following a single intravenous infusion to human volunteers, energy intake was reduced by 19 percent when volunteers were left to eat freely. Subjects reported significant reductions in hunger pangs, also.

The effect was sustained on repeat administration of the drug. Body weight reduced by 2.3 kilograms in the oxyntomodulin group, compared to 0.5 kilograms in the control group, over four weeks.

The peptide PYY3-36 is produced in the gut and released into circulation in response to food ingestion, inhibiting the release of appetite-stimulating hormones. Food intake was reduced by 30 percent following intravenous administration of PYY3-36 in volunteers.

While obese individuals have lower basal levels of PYY3-36, they are not resistant to its effects.

In September 2004, London-based Thiakis licensed rights to develop a nasally administered formulation of PYY3-36 to Nastech Pharmaceutical Inc., and that product is in Phase II development.

The deal with Nastech provided Thiakis with its seed funding, but the new money allows it to take oxyntomodulin forward on its own.

While the market for obesity is growing, current products have significant limitations, Burt said. "We believe we have a better side-effect profile. As a natural hormone oxyntomodulin is less likely to have off-target effects than small molecules."

The analogues developed by Bloom amplify the effect and increase the half-life over the native hormone.

Burt said there has been significant interest from pharma in licensing the product.

"Obviously, there is a significant uplift in value in getting a product to Phase II, but interest from pharma is already strong, so if the deal was good - and that goes beyond the money to all other aspects of the partnership - we would consider it," he added.