Karo Pharma reaches second milestone from collaboration with Pfizer

Karo Pharma has reached a second milestone from its collaboration with Pfizer on the RORgamma project amounting to $2 million. 

“This is the second milestone-payment for RORgamma. Very good news for the project” said Anders Lönner, Chairman of the Board.

The nuclear hormone receptor RORgamma is a novel attractive target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and psoriasis, Karo explained. Furthermore, RORgamma directly controls the production and secretion of the cytokine IL-17, a major contributor to inflammation. The receptor’s key role in driving disease pathology has been implicated in clinical trials using monoclonal antibodies that neutralize IL-17 activity.

Karo’s collaboration with Pfizer has started in December 2011. It has aimed to discover and develop novel small molecule RORgamma modulators for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

In September 2013 Karo reached first milestone from the collaboration.