Inflammation and oncology are the expertise of Kunwar Shailubhai, Okyo Pharma Limited’s (LON:OKYO) chief scientific officer.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that the two products being developed by the London-listed company are for eye inflammation and chronic pain management.
WATCH: OKYO Pharma sees big opportunities for its dry eye and pain management technology
Both are substantial opportunities, though there is still a way to go before either Chemerin or Bovine Adrenal Medulla-8 (BAM-8) start trials, let alone become available to patients.
Chemerin, a treatment for dry eye conditions, is furthest down the development road.
Shailubhai says animal testing has gone very well and he is hopeful that Okyo can get investigational new drug (IND) submission in the final quarter of 2019.
That will be good going but still will mean another two to three years of human trials for the drug to be approved in the US.
There is an unmet need undoubtedly, says Shailubhai.
Eye irritation
Dry Eye Syndrome - the feeling something is in the eye - is a common inflammatory condition that afflicts a growing number of people.
As the population in developed countries ages, so will the number of people hit and as many as 500mln sufferers are predicted by 2050.
Treatments currently can require drops to be taken multiple times a day and in severe cases hourly, but Okyo’s Chemerin is aiming for just once a day treatment.
A compound that targets G Protein-coupled receptors or GPCRs is the technology behind Chemerin.
Research into guanylate cyclase C receptor agonist (GCRA) has led to many significant recent medical advances.
Shailubhai was one of the pioneers when he identified that deficiency of uroguanylin, a GPCR agonist, which leads to colon cancer and other gastrointestinal diseases in people.
Indeed, one compound Shailubhai discovered has already received US approval and now called Trulance, is on sale as a treatment for two indications - chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome-constipation.
Nasdaq-listed Synergy Pharmaceutical, a company he co-founded, sells Trulance, and it is now taking another discovery by Shailubhai, Dolcanatide for ulcerative colitis through the trials process.
Non-opioid pain killer
BAM-8, too, uses a G Protein-coupled receptors compound, though it is different to Chemerin’s action.
The potential, though, is seemingly even larger.
BAM-8 is a non-opioid analgesic or a pain-killer.
Anyone with only a passing interest in medical issues in the US will know that opioid addiction is a huge and growing problem.
FTSE100-listed Indivior, for example, has a drug, Suboxone, that controls addictive behaviour.
It is worth almost £2bn, but a treatment that stops addiction in the first place would seemingly be worth a lot more than that.
Shailubhai is excited by the potential.
“Pain management is a huge market worldwide and opioid addiction among the younger generation is a very big problem.
“If you can use our technology – which is a simple peptide and non-addictive – to address the scientific mechanism, the future will be great.”
BAM-8, however, is at an even earlier stage of development than Chemerin, so any such suggestions of value are much too premature and Chemerin is the near-term focus.
IND target for Chemerin
Okyo has about £2mln cash in the bank currently, most of which has been earmarked for the Dry Eye treatment.
Those funds should comfortably be enough to get it to the IND decision stage.
After that point, more money will be required but other avenues such as partnering should open up once the drug is approved for human trials.
The Okyo team also has plenty of experience of how to move drugs forward.
Aside from his time at Synergy and various large pharmas before that, Shailubhai is chief executive officer and CSO at Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS), where Okyo’s finance director Tiziano Lazzeretti plays a similar role.
AIM-listed, Tiziana has trebled in value since July when it announced a listing on Nasdaq.
The group has filed to start Phase 1 Clinical Trials of its treatment Foralumab to be administered nasally as a way potentially to treat progressive multiple sclerosis and other brain conditions.
Tiziana is also awaiting efficacy data from a Phase II liver cancer trial for Milciclib, another drug under development.
Standard listing
Okyo joined the standard list section of the London Market in July after a reverse takeover into former miner West African Mining.
The majority shareholder is the Parmetta Group, which holds the original IP for Chemerin.
Picking winners among small biotechs can be difficult for professionals, let alone amateur investors, but the previous successes and track record of management suggest if the compounds are commercial, they will know how to move them forward.
At 2.25p, Okyo is valued at £12mln and is much smaller currently than Tiziana (£139mln) but you would not bet against it following a similar path.