Signum Dermalogix, Inc. (Dermalogix), a private biopharmaceutical company, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) Application to evaluate SIG990 in rosacea.

SIG990 is a safe topical treatment that addresses both erythema and inflammatory lesions and thus would be a significant and potentially better therapeutic option for rosacea patients then what is currently on the market. SIG990 is an isoprenylcysteine (IPC) analog that modulates toll-like receptor (TLR) and G-protein signalling demonstrating promising results in several in vitro cell based assays and efficacy in in vivo topical inflammatory animal models.

Instrumental in the pre-clinical development of SIG990 was funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) via an SBIR grant. Dr. Eduardo Perez, VP of R&D and Business Development stated, "We thank NIAID for their support of this programme. We would not have been able to perform the critical safety, pharmacology and manufacturing required without this grant support."

As a new chemical entity, SIG990 recently had composition of matter IP awarded (US Patent Application No. 12/566,839). Maxwell Stock, CEO of Dermalogix, commented, "We continue to make significant progress and are well-positioned to advance the development of our IPC compounds in dermatology. I look forward to moving SIG990 into the clinic to assess its efficacy in human subjects."

Signum Dermalogix, is a dermatological focused company, developing novel cosmetic ingredients and drug compounds. Dermalogix also provides dermatology testing, custom assay development and analytical services.