Vancouver-based biotech company Allon Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded US$500,000 in grants from the U.S. government to fund development of its clinical-stage neuroprotective drug candidate davunetide and preclinical-stage drug candidate AL-309.
Allon CEO Gordon McCauley told Business in Vancouver that his 20-employee company has a negative cash-burn of about $750,000 per month.
He said, “We do not have revenue. We’re a development company at this point.”
The funding came from the qualifying therapeutic discovery project included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010.
BIV Business Today previously reported that Allon’s lead product davunetide was being fast tracked through the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug review and approval process.
Davunetide is a potential treatment of progressive supranuclear palsy, which is a rapidly progressing and fatal form of dementia.
The FDA grants fast-track status to drug candidates that can potentially treat serious or life-threatening conditions and that address an unmet medical need.