Telormedix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) small molecules in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, has raised funding from the European Eurostars Program to coordinate an international research project involving a consortium of companies aimed at developing new formulations of one of the company’s drug candidates, TMX-302, for the treatment of psoriasis.

The Eurostars Program is the European funding and support program specifically dedicated to stimulating international collaborative research and innovation projects of small and medium enterprises. The psoriasis anti-inflammatory treatment project, operating under the acronym PAT, will have a total budget of $2.3 million and will involve consortium partners Biopta, Midatech Biogune, Molecular Profiles and the University Hospital Zurich (USZ).

The PAT project will initially focus on developing new oral and topical formulations of TMX-302 using Midatech’s nanoparticles formulated using Molecular Profile’s technology. Both routes of administration are viewed as practicable for the treatment of psoriasis. Once a range of formulations has been developed, Biopta will screen them by using human fresh tissue in vitro assays to select the best candidates. These candidates will then be studied and compared to currently used therapies in well-established humanized animal models of psoriasis at the Department of Dermatology of the USZ.