Biotech

Nyrada CEO James Bonnar discusses the company’s commercialisation plans – Podcast

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By Filip Karinja - 
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Junior biotech company Nyrada (ASX: NYR) was the first IPO off the mark for 2020, with the company’s stock floating on the ASX in mid-January after raising the intended maximum of A$8.5 million.

The Noxopharm spinout is pursuing novel treatments for cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Speaking with Small Caps, Nyrada chief executive officer James Bonnar said the IPO was a huge milestone for the small cap company, which is now set up for the next stage of development.

According to Mr Bonnar, what sets Nyrada apart from other junior biotech companies is its “very strong commercial focus”, with the company looking to generate revenue from its assets early on to further grow and add value.

He said the company’s commercial strategy was two pronged.

“The first is our vision, which is to develop drugs with significant commercial potential in therapeutic areas where no treatments currently exist.”

“An example of that is our brain injury program.”

“This also extends into other areas where current treatments are either too expensive and maybe inconvenient to use or they may be suboptimal in the way they work.”

One of the drugs that fits into this focus is Nyrada’s cholesterol lowering drug research, which was recently published in the international peer-reviewed journal Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry.

The journal published a paper on Nyrada’s pre-clinical research, which had identified a molecule that inhibits PCSK9 production and lowers cholesterol levels in mice.

With this technology, Nyrada plans to develop an oral cholesterol-lowering drug for patients who have a suboptimal response to statin therapy. The plan is to develop a single pill solution which combines a PCSK9 inhibitor with a statin.

Meanwhile, Nyrada’s second commercial focus is in early stage drug discovery and development. It already has an active research and development program underway.

In this area, the company aims to add “significant value” to an asset early on.

“I think investors will think of Nyrada as an innovator company – focused on discovering novel drug targets, which we then take through human safety testing and on to efficacy proof of concept studies.”

This generally takes a drug candidate up to phase 2a study, where Nyrada would then look to sell it or licence it out to generate revenue.