Hair Loss News

Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS) released their latest financial results in a corporate presentation to analysts on April 14, 2007.

In the presentation they provided information on the Hedgehog hair growth drug.   The compound dubbed “small molecule hedgehog agonist” has been tested on mice with great success at rapidly growing hair.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) received the worldwide exclusive license to Curis’ Hedgehog agonist technology for dermatological indications, which includes hair loss treatments.

Curis expects the license to generate potential cash payments of $100 million, in addition to royalties and research support.   Curis also has the option to co-develop the drug from IND filing through Phases I and II.

According to their latest data it’s currently in the final stage of internal testing.  The next step after this would be an IND filing with the FDA to develop it as a drug.

Pending favorable outcomes in their ongoing preclinical toxicology studies are expected to be released in mid-2007.  They anticipate an IND filing approximately 12 months from the completion of their toxicology studies.

Curis will receive $0.5 million upfront and $2.8 million in cash payments from P&Q upon achieving certain preclinical goals.  They already received the first $1 million cash payment from P&G in the first quarter of 2006.

Since there is a large financial incentive for both parties its unlikely that this drug will not be developed as planned, assuming all goes well with the toxicology trials which are being done on animals.

Their latest corporate presentation can be seen at this link: http://www.curis.com/Curis_CorporatePresentation_2007.pdf