Symic Biomedical Announces Collaboration with Nordic Biosciences for its Osteoarthritis Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Symic Biomedical today announced a strategic alliance with Nordic Bioscience A/S to focus on the clinical development of Symic's osteoarthritis (OA) program. Nordic Bioscience (Copenhagen, Denmark) is a world-renowned pharmaceutical development organization with scientific and clinical expertise in the OA field, and pioneers in the biomarker space with full translational and regulatory implementation capabilities. Nordic Bioscience has previously run or is running clinical programs in OA for Novartis Pharma AG and Merck Serono, and Nordic's expertise in OA combined with Symic's proprietary and novel compounds for treating OA creates exciting potential for a disease that lacks effective treatment and affects so many people world-wide.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nordic Bioscience will provide clinical development services to Symic on a shared-risk basis in exchange for a payment structure that includes service fees and equity in Symic's OA subsidiary. Symic retains responsibility for the development and commercialization of the products. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Symic is developing a new category of therapeutics with a wide variety of clinical applications. As a company our goal is to find the best option for development of each of our programs," said Ken Horne, Chief Executive Officer of Symic Biomedical. "With Nordic Bioscience's expertise in OA, we have clearly found the best possible option for Symic's OA program." Morten Karsdal, Chief Executive Officer of Nordic Bioscience, added "Nordic Bioscience is excited to be partnering with Symic on their novel and exciting OA program. OA is a clinical area that Nordic Bioscience has extensive experience in, and our biomarker expertise lends itself particularly well to Symic's therapeutic approach."

Osteoarthritis, also called degenerative joint disease, is a disorder of the joints characterized by progressive deterioration of cartilage and other surrounding tissues. It is the most common cause of disability in older adults and the lifetime risk of developing symptomatic knee OA is estimated to be 40% in men and 47% in women.

About Symic Biomedical (www.symicbio.com)
Symic Biomedical is a developing a new category of therapeutics that offer an exciting and biologically innovative approach to treating disease.  Symic's compounds function like proteoglycans, important structural and functional macromolecules native to the ECM (extracellular matrix) that are known to protect against tissue degradation and promote healing during illness or injury. The ECM is the non-cellular component of tissues that is critical for healthy tissue function. Components of the ECM, including proteoglycans, play a critical role in maintaining tissue function and healing upon injury or in chronic diseases. Symic is targeting the ECM using its proprietary proteoglycan mimics, and will advance its compounds in a variety of acute and chronic therapeutic areas with unmet clinical needs.

SOURCE Symic Biomedical

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