Dynavax Technologies Corp. Received $30 Million for Allergy Franchise

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development on July 25, 2007

A healthcare investment fund - Deerfield Management - has committed up to $30 million in project financing to Dynavax Technologies Corporation for the acceleration of the company's allergy franchise.

The committed funding will be used to:

• finance the company's late-stage ragweed allergy program, TOLAMBAâ„¢, specifically a planned chamber study and a subsequent field study


• provide immediate resources to advance Dynavax's preclinical peanut and cat allergy programs

According to Dino DINA, MD, president and chief executive officer:

"The partnership with Deerfield will allow us to move TOLAMBA forward, produce results quickly, and accelerate parallel development of our specialty peanut and cat allergy programs, with the goal of establishing a robust franchise in disease-modifying treatments for allergic conditions.

We believe these allergy programs represent novel therapies that can improve the quality of life for individuals suffering from ragweed, peanut or cat allergies that currently lack effective treatments. Deerfield recognizes that TLR9 is a critical component of the adverse immunologic response in allergic diseases.

Given the market opportunities associated with therapeutics targeting these areas, Deerfield has partnered with us in this venture and agreed to share in the development risk. With this project financing, Dynavax can fund a robust, diversified allergy franchise, significantly advance TOLAMBA towards registration, and move peanut and cat into the clinic."

Designed to target the underlying cause of seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by ragweed, TOLAMBAâ„¢ consists of Dynavax's proprietary immunostimulatory sequences (ISS) linked to the purified major allergen of ragweed, Amb a 1.

[Since ragweed is the most common cause of seasonal allergies, commercialization of a disease-modifying therapy versus a drug that only offers short-term symptomatic relief could dramatically impact the quality of life for the approximately 40 million ragweed allergy patients in the US.]

Dynavax plans to initiate a 300-patient, randomized, placebo-controlled environmental exposure chamber (EEC) study of TOLAMBA in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Find more details from the full report.