The new entity will focus on the treatment of a variety of inflammatory diseases and conditions including atopic dermatitis, dry eye syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and lymphatic disorders, as well as the treatment of bladder cancer.

Riku Rautsola was appointed as president and CEO of the new entity, which has a broad portfolio of first-in-class products based on two proprietary technologies. Most recently Mr Rautsola was president and CEO of VIRxSYS Corporation in the US.

Mr Rautsola held various senior executive positions, among others, at Boehringer Ingelheim, Beiersdorf and Fresenius and served on the board of directors of the Finnish drug development company Biotie Therapies.

Mr Rautsola said: “We are excited about the potential created by forming this new company. We have a broad portfolio, cost-efficient operation model, and several upcoming clinical milestones in the next couple of years. This provides the unique opportunity to build Laurantis Pharma from an early clinical development company to a successful specialty pharmaceutical company in the coming years.”

Laurantis Pharma’s pipeline includes proprietary and patent-protected formulations and applications of cis-urocanicacid (cis-UCA), a locally acting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative agent.

Lasse Leino, COO of Laurantis Pharma and previously CEO of BioCis Pharma, said: “We are very excited about having the capacity to a build a competitive specialty pharmaceutical company with a strong technology base. Laurantis Pharma is well positioned to reach several significant clinical milestones for its lead products in the next two to three years.”

Will the move benefit the firms?

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