Relevare braces for IPO

In defiance of market conditions, Melbourne and San Francisco-based pharma company, Relevare Pharmaceuticals, is confident it can raise at least $20 million in an IPO, slated to take place this year.

Relevare, which recently changed its name from CNSBio, specialises in treating moderate to severe chronic pain.

It's flagship drug, CNSB015, is a combination of the non-opioid potassium channel opener, flupirtine, with an opioid. As both drugs operate by different mechanisms, they have a complementary effect, both in terms of efficacy and minimising adverse effects.

Flupirtine is a well established drug with over 20 years use, so its safety and manufacture are well established, lowering the regulatory and production barriers to bringing it to market in a combination drug.

The technology stemmed from research done by Professor Colin Goodchild, Director at the Centre for Pain Medicine at Monash University. The company was founded in 2003 to commercialise Goodchild's research.

According to managing director, Mark Blumling, now is the right time for the IPO: the market is there, the dosage level is established and the company is poised to conduct a 288 patient phase IIb/III pivotal trial in Australia and Europe and advance CNSB015 down the regulatory path to approval.

If approved, the market potential is in the billions of dollars, with 3.5 million patients in the United States alone who suffer from neuropathic pain related to cancer and HIV. Presently there are no approved drugs for this market.

Blumling is non-committal at this stage about the commercialisation path of CNSB015 and whether Relevare will seek to partner or license the technology. At this stage, the company's focus is on conducting the next stage of clinical trials.

Relevare also has other drug candidates in the pipeline - all focusing on pain relief - although, according to Blumling, CNSB015 is the clear priority at this stage.