Company

Apogenix is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. The compounds' mechanism of action is either based on the targeted modulation of the programmed cell death (apoptosis, ἁπόπτωσισ in Greek, is used to describe the “falling off” of leaves from trees) or on the inhibition of tumor cell growth.

A controlled phase II proof of concept study with the company's lead product candidate, Apocept (APG101), in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has met and exceeded its primary endpoint in March 2012. The primary endpoint was to double the number of patients reaching progression-free survival at six months (PFS6). A number of important secondary endpoints were also met in 2012. In January 2013, Apogenix initiated a clinical phase I trial with Apocept to treat patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

Please click here to watch a report by Deutsche Welle (Germany's international broadcaster) for a description of glioblastoma and Apocept's mechanism of action.

Apogenix was founded as a spin-off from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany. Since its inception in fall 2005, Apogenix has raised more than €50 million in three financing rounds. In addition, the company has been awarded public grants totaling nearly €8.5 million, of which almost €5 million were granted as part of the so-called Leading-Edge Cluster Competition initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Apogenix is based in Heidelberg, Germany, and currently has 29 employees.