THE EUROPEAN Commission has given Irish biotech group Opsona Therapeutics €5.9 million funding under the seventh framework programme to drive clinical development of the company’s prospective therapy to block organ rejection in kidney transplant patients.

The company, which was spun out of Trinity College’s immunology department in 2004 has developed the drug, OPN-305. It announced yesterday that it will begin phase I safety trials in healthy adults this summer.

The trials will be carried out in the Netherlands by a company which is part of the nine-strong consortium benefiting from the EU funding. If no problems emerge, Opsona will proceed to phase II trials next year to prove the efficacy of the drug.

Executive chairman Dr Bernd Seizinger said it was unusual for a small biotech company to be appointed the leader of this type of programme and it was testament to the strength of its team and the prospective therapy which Opsona’s team has developed in house.

The company also announced yesterday that it was strengthening its management team. It has recruited Dutch clinical development specialist Dr Leon Hooftman as chief medical officer and Prof Luke O’Neill, one of the three Trinity immunologists behind the founding of the company as chief scientific officer.

The company’s vice-president of pharmaceutical development Mary Reilly will assume a broader role as vice-president of pharmaceutical development and operations.

Following the departure of founding chief executive Mark Heffernan, who is returning to Australia for family reasons, the company is also searching for a new chief executive.

Dr Seizinger said the post was attracting interest internationally. The company is fully funded for the planned trials following a €21.3 million fundraising led by Fountain Healthcare and the venture capital arm of Novartis.

However, Dr Seizinger said it was conceivable that within the next six or 12 months, the company would raise more money to broaden the company’s pipeline.