Clavis Pharma ASA is a clinical-stage oncology focused pharmaceutical company with a portfolio of novel anti-cancer drugs in development. These patented New Chemical Entities (NCEs) are novel, improved versions of well-established and commercially successful drugs, made using Clavis Pharma's Lipid Vector Technology (LVT), and may offer better efficacy and safety profile.
Clavis Pharma's key drug candidate is elacytarabine which is in clinical developement.
Elacytarabine is an LVT derivative of the leukaemia drug cytarabine (also known as ara-C). It is in a randomized, controlled
Phase III study (called CLAVELA) in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and is also in a Phase II trial in
combination with idarubicin in patients with early-stage AML. Clavis Pharma’s current intention is to partner elacytarabine
outside of Europe after the CLAVELA results have been reported in 2013; European rights are expected to be retained.
Clavis Pharma is also developing CP-4200 for the treatment of MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome).
Brief History
Clavis Pharma ASA was founded in 2001, when it acquired all rights to the LVT-related assets and activities from the major Norwegian industrial company Norsk Hydro. Norsk Hydro had developed the LVT platform by combining its extensive lipid expertise with pharmaceutical know-how, and was able to invent NCEs through chemical synthesis of various lipids with existing drugs - this is the technology platform that Clavis Pharma is now applying across a broad range of cancer indications.
