Plans

The non-melanoma skin cancer market is substantial and dominated by specialty pharma companies with a dedicated focus on skin diseases. The market is generally characterized by well-established drugs, lack of innovation and a large number of patients with a clear need for better treatment options. Existing drugs are associated with significant drawbacks and there is a large unmet need for new drug-treatments that are safe, efficacious and convenient. Chemotherapies (e.g. 5FU) causes damage of the genes inside the nucleus of cells that are dividing and can cause severe skin reactions. Other treatments stimulate the immune system to destroy cancer cells (e.g. topial imiquimod). Several medical procedures are common in the treatment of AK (e.g. liquid nitrogen) and BCC (surgery) – these therapies are generally effective but often result in pain and severe scarring which compromise the patients’ quality oflife. These procedures often have to be repeated several times due to recurrence of the lesions.

AVX001 inhibits cPLA₂α, a key enzyme which causes release of arachidonic acid resulting in activation of multiple inflammatory and proliferative processes play a fundamental role in cancer cells and their micro environment, hence acting on several key hallmarks of cancer growth. The cPLA₂α inhibitor AVX001 has been shown to exhibit effect in preclinical and clinical studies with a better safety profile over existing treatments and medical procedures.