Startup Convoy Therapeutics has an inventive method for permeating skin and delivering treatment, and the company has pulled in $2 million of a $3 million offering, MedCity News reports.
The Nevada-based company is looking to further develop its Skin Permeating and Cell Entering (SPACE) platform, a neutral, non-toxic peptide that Convoy says can transport macromolecules through the skin and into target cells. Several peptides on the market can penetrate cell membranes, and some can get molecules through the skin's outer layers, but SPACE is the first to be able to do both, according to Convoy.
In the short term, the company is looking to develop SPACE treatments for skin ailments. The company is planning a SPACE formulation of the psoriasis drug cyclosporine and one for the eczema treatment tacrolimus, confident that its platform can boost the effectiveness of those drugs. In the future, Convoy is optimistic that SPACE can be used for other macromolecule treatments, like siRNAs.
And that's where the big profits may be: More than a decade removed from its discovery, siRNA treatment hasn't flourished because it can be so difficult to deliver. If SPACE can indeed get macromolecule siRNA therapies into the skin and into cells, Convoy could be in for far more than just $3 million.
- read the MedCity News report
- check out Convoy's SEC filing