European Companies Seek Topical Treatment for Vitiligo

Two European biotechnology companies have joined forces to develop a topical treatment for the skin disorder vitiligo. Vitiligo, which is characterized by irregular patches of unpigmented skin, afflicts more than three million people worldwide. There is currently no effective treatment for the condition.

Switch Biotech AG (Neuried, Germany), a biotechnology company that specializes in the development of novel treatments for skin diseases, has signed an agreement with Spirig Pharma AG, (Egerkingen, Switzerland), a company that is active in the development and marketing of products to protect the skin from exposure to the sun and to biting insects.

The partners will work to advance Switch Biotech's drug candidate SWT05100 through clinical trials that will test to find if it is both effective against vitiligo and harmless to normal skin. The drug has been found to reverse the inhibition of melanin in skin cells growing in tissue culture. Spirig Pharma will develop a cream containing SWT05100 for the clinical trials.

Dr. Jörn-Peter Halle, chief business officer of Switch Biotech, said, "Spirig Pharma and Switch Biotech possess ideally complementing expertise for the development of products for the treatment of skin diseases. I am delighted that we are able to advance the development of products through this cooperation between a young biotech company and a successful pharmaceutical corporation.”




Related Links:
Switch Biotech AG
Spirig Pharma AG