BRIEF—Martin Pharmaceuticals launched to repurpose drugs for orphan indications

Two accomplished healthcare executives, David Martin Geliebter and Sven Martin Jacobson, founders of Remedy Pharmaceuticals, announced the launch of Martin Pharmaceuticals, with the mission of repurposing already-approved drugs in order to offer life-changing advances to patients afflicted with rare (orphan) diseases or challenging medical conditions.

Martin is the sixth healthcare company the pair has started since 2001.

In May 2017, Remedy Pharmaceuticals sold its repurposed, orphan-designated CNS drug program, Cirara (intravenous glyburide) to Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) for a $120 million upfront payment plus future potential milestones and royalties.

Martin, to be based in New York, also revealed that it completed a seed round of financing from a group of outside investors to advance a clinical-stage, repurposed drug program.

The offering was oversubscribed. No other details were provided other than the company is planning to start recruiting patients into a Phase I/II trial for an unspecified life-threatening acute condition.