An innovative biotech start-up focusing on enhancing the performance of botulinum toxin, a $5bn market.
Lausanne, 23 December 2018 – Remora Capital announced today the creation of Fastox Pharma SA
Fastox Pharma will research and develop drug combinations with botulinum toxins to improve the toxin performance. Indeed, one of the key drawbacks of the toxin is the time to onset and the duration of action. It can take from 2 to 7 days to see the therapeutic effect and it lasts usually between 3 to 4 months. This relatively short duration requires patients to come back every 3 months for retreatment and losing some quality of life in the meantime.
The botulinum toxin market is an attractive, fast-growing market of $5bn today and is expected to grow to more than $8bn by 2025.
Botulinum toxins have been used in a therapeutic setting since the approval of Botox in 1989. The indications treated have expanded widely and we count today more than 70 medical conditions for which botulinum toxins are a treatment of choice. Botulinum toxins are also well-known for their use in aesthetics where Botox® is synonymous with the category. The Time magazine even made its cover in 2017 with “Botox: The Drug That’s Treating Everything”.
Despite this strong medical interest for botulinum toxins, they are perceived to be quite undifferentiated and there is limited innovation in sight; most of the players are focusing on developing new indications and formulations to improve the convenience and precision of administration. As of today, only one company is developing a botulinum toxin combined with a peptide to increase its duration. In the meantime, Korean-made toxins are reaching the US and European markets with products said to be similar to Botox® but sold at a cheaper price.
This dynamic is very favorable for the development of innovative technologies making a difference in the botulinum toxin market.
Jean-Marc LE DOUSSAL, co-founder of Fastox, managing partner at Remora Capital and entrepreneur, said:
“We believe there is a strong need for an “enhanced” botulinum toxin that would be quicker to act and would last longer. We are confident that the preliminary data we have developed is strong enough to suggest that our technology could act on both characteristics, onset and duration.”
About Remora Capital SA
Remora Capital is a privately-owned, independent venture company founded by serial biotech entrepreneurs focused on the early development of innovative biotherapeutics. Remora Capital is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. Remora Capital has a track of record of steady growth since its inception and continues to develop a portfolio of participations in Immunotherapy, Biotech and E-Health/MedTech. Currently, Remora Capital is financially backed by seasoned entrepreneurs, top managers and business-oriented scientists and it has taken stakes in 7 companies, 3 which have been already successfully exited.
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