DesignMedix gives up after failed trial

DesignMedix, a US-based drug developer spun out of Portland State University (PSU), has closed after a failed phase 1 trial of its antimalarial drug, according to the Portland Business Journal.
Sandra Shotwell, co-founder and chief executive of DesignMedix, confirmed to the publication that the spinout had gone out of business at the end of March.
Founded in 2008, DesignMedix was working antimalarial and antibacterial drugs to overcome growing resistance to widely used malaria drug chloroquine.
The spinout was looking to commercialise work by co-founder and chief scientific officer David Peyton, a chemistry professor at PSU whose founding research was focused on modifying chloroquine to overcome resistance.
The phase 1 trial tested 50 healthy patients with a low dose at the Duke Clinical Research Institute last year, but the trial was halted as the drug produced side effects, including flu-like symptoms, with increasing dosage.
The results fell short of US regulator the Food and Drug Administration’s window of safety.
DesignMedix has returned its remaining funding to its investors.
The spinout had raised at least $3.1m in equity financing, according to regulatory filings, including a $1.5m angel round in 2014 backed by the Portland Seed Fund, as well as investors affiliated with Bellingham Angels, Oregon Angel Fund, Seraph Angel Network, Willamette Angel Conference, Keiretsu Angel Forum and Tacoma Angel Network.
Shotwell said: “Of course, we always knew this was a possibility, and we were really straightforward with our investors about it. I think many of them were as devastated as we were.
“It was certainly very, very disappointing, not just for ourselves and investors, but we really had hoped to make a difference.”