A new Vancouver-based startup made up of former employees of QLT Inc. (TSX:QLT) has licensed the last of the assets the company put up for sale more than a year ago.
Valocor Therapeutics Inc. announced Tuesday morning it has acquired an exclusive license from QLT for Lemuteporfin, a topical drug candidate for moderate to severe acne.
It also acquired other topical small molecule therapeutics for acne, atopic dermatitis and vitiligo, which is a type of pigment loss.
QLT, one of Vancouver’s oldest biotech companies, placed a number of assets up for sale in 2008 to raise cash and to focus exclusively on treatments for eye-related ailments.
Valocor’s deal was facilitated with seed financing from the Working Opportunity Fund, which is managed by GrowthWorks Capital Ltd.
Daniel Wattier, Valocor’s president and CEO told BIV that the company is looking to close a larger series A round financing this year in order to get Lemuteporfin into clinical trials early next year. He previously worked at QLT for eight years as head of marketing and sales. Julia Levy, a QLT founder, is Valocor’s chairman.
Wattier said: “When QLT sold [one of its previous drug candidates] and started restructuring to focus on purely ocular diseases, we thought: there is this portfolio of really novel stuff that would make a lot of sense as a separate company but could never make it in the new environment of QLT.”
The company is not disclosing the monetary terms of the deal.