ARCTURUS AIMING FOR 10 DERMATOLOGICALS IN CLINICALS BY 1997

Executive Summary

ARCTURUS AIMING FOR 10 DERMATOLOGICALS IN CLINICALS BY 1997 as a result of a licensing agreement with Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, which gives the start-up firm the right of first refusal to dermatological inventions from the labs of Arcturus cofounders Kenneth Arndt, MD, and Stephen Galli, MD. Galli is chairman of the firm's scientific advisory board as well as director of Beth Israel's division of experimental pathology and associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. Arndt is chairman of Beth Israel's dermatology department and professor of dermatology at Harvard. Arcturus says it hopes to create "a new generation of innovative therapeutic agents" based on "advances in skin biology" as well as a proprietary delivery technology. The Woburn, Mass.- based firm has three products in preclinical studies, the most advanced of which is a topical antipruritic for treatment of atopic dermatitis. Other product candidates include a topical anesthetic for use in laser surgery and cryosurgery and a potential alternative to topical corticosteroids that treats immunologically-mediated skin disorders by inhibiting specific hypersensitivity reactions. Arcturus is also researching compounds for acne and hair loss. The four-year-old firm announced the completion of a $3.5 mil. first round venture financing July 23. Financing participants included Dillon, Read; Commonwealth BioVentures; and BancBoston Ventures. Arcturus was founded in March 1988 by Galli, Arndt and Arcturus VP-R&D Richard Sharpe, MD. Sharpe was previously a researcher for Repligen. Arcturus President and CEO Dana Ono, PhD, joined from Enzytech, where he was VP-business development. Ono is the author of The Business of Biotechnology -- From the Bench to the Street.