HERZLIYA, Israel, November 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ —

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. today announced the initial closing of its first round of financing with Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Pontifax, an Israeli VC firm leading the financing.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals is based on a technology developed by Prof. Timor Bassov from the Technion – Israel Institute of technology – enabling selective and safe ribosomal readthrough of premature termination codons for the treatment of nonsense genetic diseases.

“We are very excited by the prospect of delivering novel therapeutic small molecules to patients suffering from nonsense genetic diseases. Eloxx has in-licensed from the Technion – a library of compounds developed by Prof. Timor Bassov that have shown excellent safety and efficacy pre-clinical data demonstrating the ability of the compounds to overcome nonsense mutations for the treatment of several genetic diseases. We look forward to developing a pipeline of small-molecule therapeutics that target genetic mutations caused by non-sense mutations with high unmet medical needs .” says Shmuel Tuvia, Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, COO.

About Eloxx Pharmaceuticals

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., based in Israel is a Pontifax portfolio company established in 2013 by Dr. Silvia Noiman, that serves as its Executive Chairman and Dr. Shmuel Tuvia. The company, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovery, development and commercialization of compounds for the treatment of genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations including: Cystic fibrosis, Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, Usher syndrome, Ataxia-telangiectasia, Beta thalassemia, Tay-Sachs Hurler syndrome and many others.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals approach and knowhow allows moving rapidly from target drugs discovery program to clinical drug candidates. Building a robust pipeline of molecules designed for an array of nonsense genetic diseases. Translation of mRNA to a protein is the event where the cellular machinery, i.e. ribosome, ultimately dictates the quantity and timing for each protein to be produced. Thus, molecules that induce ribosomal readthrough overcome the nonsense mutations and allow production of a full-length functional protein. These molecules hold great therapeutic potential for the treatment of many genetic diseases.

Contact:

Silvia Noiman, PhD, MBA
Executive Chairman
E-mail:noimana@012.net.il
Phone: +972-544-256978

Shmuel Tuvia, Ph.D.
COO
E-mail: shmulik@eloxxpharma.com
Phone: +972-54-5689094

SOURCE Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.