Fact Sheet Corporate

Mission

vasopharm is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of cerebro- and cardiovascular diseases and their consequences – indications with significant unmet clinical need. The company is focused on the development of therapeutics which steer the availability of biological nitric oxide (NO) over the entire NO signal cascade and its functional counterpart the NAD(P)H oxidase (NOX) family.

Business Model

vasopharm focuses on drug development in acute niche indications with an unmet medical need which enables the company to rapidly demonstrate clinical efficacy. In addition to developing its own products to demonstrate clinical efficacy, vasopharm is actively seeking complementary opportunities in the area of acute cardiovascular or CNS diseases preferably in late pre-clinical or early clinical state of development.

Disease Focus

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): TBI is a major cause of death and disability among a predominantly young male population, mostly victims of automobile accidents. Annually, within the U.S. alone, head trauma is the cause of about two million emergency room visits, roughly 475,000 hospital admissions, nearly 52,000 deaths and approximately 80,000 cases of severe long-term disability (e.g. functional and cognitive disorders, learning disabilities). The estimated annual TBI market is over $ 500 million each in the U.S. and Europe. Currently, there is no effective therapy available to treat this condition.

Therapeutic pipeline

VAS203 is an allosteric NO synthase inhibitor interacting with the BH4 binding site of the enzyme. It is the first drug targeting both vasculature and tissue of the brain and thus represents a completely novel and unique pharmacological approach for the treatment of traumatic brain injury. vasopharm will enter clinical trials by the end of 2006. VAS203 is covered by a number of international patents owned by vasopharm with exclusivity until at least 2022. Patents cover both the target and composition of matter.

VAS2870 is a NAD(P)H oxidase (NOX) modulator identified for the treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive diseases (PAOD). VAS2870 is one of several NOX modulators under evaluation at vasopharm. Compounds of this class – which are able to increase biologically available NO in progressive and chronic diseases – have potential in the treatment of the underlying causes of several cardiovascular diseases.

At a Glance

• Foundation: July 1998
• Total Funding: 18.5 m €
• Focus on drug development

Management Team

• Christian Wandersee, CEO
• Frank Tegtmeier, PhD, CSO
• Prof Reinhard Schinzel, PhD, Head of Pre-Clinical Research
• Peter Scheurer, PhD,
  Head of Chemistry & Manufacturing

Supervisory Board

• Christof Antz, PhD, Chairman, EMBL Ventures
• Klaas de Boer,
  Entrepreneurs Fund B.V.
  
• Clemens Doppler, PhD, HeidelbergCapital Asset Management GmbH
• Markus Weissbach, MD, Hesperion AG

Investors

• EMBL Ventures, Heidelberg
• Future Capital AG,
  Frankfurt a. M.
• Entrepreneurs Fund B.V., Amsterdam
• HeidelbergCapital, Heidelberg
  
• Bayern Kapital, Landshut
• KfW, Frankfurt a. M.
• tbg, Bonn

Scientific Advisors

• Ralf P. Brandes, MD, Institute of Cardiovascular Physiology, Frankfurt Medical School, Germany
• Professor Hans Christian Diener, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Essen, Germany
• Professor Martin Feelisch, PhD, Clinical Sciences Research Institute, University of Warwick, UK
• Professor Thomas Münzel, MD,
  University Hospital, Mainz, Germany
• Professor Christian Spiss, MD,
  Department of Anaesthesiology and General Intensive Care, Vienna General Hospital, Austria

Contact Details

vasopharm GmbH
Friedrich-Bergius-Ring 15
97076 Wuerzburg, Germany
Tel. +49(0)931-359099-0
Fax +49(0)931-359099-12
Email: office@vasopharm.com
www.vasopharm.com