Alfama receives €2.2 million grant for the development of CORMs
Alfama, Lda announced today that a Portuguese government strategic incentive program has approved a €2.2 million financing of the Company’s emerging carbon monoxide releasing molecules (CORM) technology. The funding provided by Portugal’s National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN) will be used to support the development of Alfama’s CORM platform, namely by allowing the company to outsource specialized R&D services, leverage its patent portfolio and expand its core team of scientists.
“This QREN grant is evidence that countries like Portugal are betting on cutting edge technologies and entrepreneurial teams to reinvigorate their economies in these rough times. The funding will allow Alfama in strengthening its core platform, while simultaneously using private VC funding to advance its lead molecules to the clinic” said Alfama’s CEO Nuno Arantes-Oliveira. The QREN support scheme is operated by Portugal’s agency for small and medium enterprises, IAPMEI, whose President Luís Filipe Costa declared: “I am delighted by the approval of this application, which will enable the development of Alfama’s pioneering project, complementing the funds already invested in the Company by Venture Capital funds – such as InovCapital and AICEP Capital – and by business angels in Portugal and abroad”.
CORMs are chemical entities of various types which deliver carbon monoxide (CO) to specific sites in the body or in particular pathological conditions. CO has repeatedly been shown to be a strong vasodilator, as well as an anti‐inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and anti-thrombotic agent. In recent years CORMs have shown an attractive safety profile and have proven efficacious in animal models of human diseases such as acute hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, myocardial infarction, transplant rejection and malaria, among others.
For more information, please contact:
EUROPE
Ágnes Lopes
