Dilaforette is granted SEK 2.85m for development of sevuparin for the treatment of severe malaria

STOCKHOLM – November 2, 2012. Dilaforette announces today that it has been granted
SEK 2.85m from the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, Vinnova, for the development of sevuparin, a new potential treatment for severe malaria.

Sevuparin is intended as an adjunctive therapy to anti-parasite medicines in order to prevent the infected red blood cells from obstructing blood vessels and thereby reducing mortality. Each year nearly 10 million people are diagnosed with severe malaria and about one million die of the disease.

The grant from Vinnova will be used for process and method development and validation. The project is in Phase II with a clinical study ongoing in Thailand in collaboration with leading malaria clinicians at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, which is supported by the Wellcome Trust.

“We are very pleased that sevuparin was selected by Vinnova, in high competition. The additional funding will take sevuparin one step further towards a treatment of severe malaria, a disease where more efficacious medications are urgently needed”, says Pirkko Sulila Tamsen, CEO of Dilaforette.

For further information, please contact:
Pirkko Sulila Tamsen, CEO, Dilaforette
Phone: +46 (0)70 302 95 88, e-mail: pirkko.tamsen@dilaforette.se

About Dilaforette AB
Dilaforette is a Swedish drug development company developing sevuparin, a heparin analogue for the treatment of severe malaria and sickle cell disease.