RosePharma is a private company that was founded in 2003 as Gastrotech Pharma. Its headquarters are located in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the Medicon Valley region. Hans T. Schambye, Chairman, Enda Kenny, CEO, Michael Forer, Prof. Dr. Olle Isaksson, Florian Schönharting, Christian Karsten Hansen

Christian Karsten Hansen

Christian Karsten Hansen, PhD is a Danish biotechnology entrepreneur and inventor, with work in new drugs, molecular biology and biochemistry.- Personal background :...

, Leif Helth Jensen, Charles Woler are some important people within the company.

Rose Pharma (formerly Gastrotech Pharma) is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for IBS and anorexia/cachexia associated with cancer and other major pathologies. Rose Pharma is a virtual company.

History

Rose Pharma was formerly known as Gastrotech Pharma. Gastrotech was founded in 2003 and had a broad interest in gastroenterology. It was initially established to exploit intellectual property from the Sahlgrenska Institute in Stockholm but was later relocated to the Medicon Valley

Medicon Valley

Medicon Valley is a leading bi-national life-sciences cluster in Europe, spanning the Øresund Region of eastern Denmark and southern Sweden. It is one of Europe's strongest life science clusters with a large number of life science companies and research institutions located within a very small...

 region of Copenhagen due to the large presence of its main venture backers. RosePharma works with other third party companies in the research and development of its main drug, Rose-010. This shift in focus towards this product is reflected in the change of company name.

Products

ROSE 010 is a pharmaceutical therapy intended to treat the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements...

. The pharmaceutical, Rose-010, treats IBS by delaying gastric contractions in releasing tension of the gastric musculature which prohibits the cycle of contractions and spasms. Rose-010 also modulates smooth muscle contraction. More specifically, this drug mimics the hormone GLP-1 which also modulates smooth muscle contractions, thus reducing contractions associated with IBS. ROSE-010 must be administered subcutaneously or intravenously. As of December 2005 Rose-010 was in the phase II double-blinded placebo controlled stage of testing.

Partnerships

Dor BioPharma joined with RosePharma in 2005 to further fund the research. Companies such as CAT Invest, Nordic Biotech, BML Healthcare and 123MultiNova Europe are all investors in RosePharma and are all the providers for the funding of the development of Rose-010.

In January 2008, Rose Pharma signed an agreement with Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly was the founder of Eli Lilly and Company.Eli Lilly may also refer to:* Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical company...

and Company (Indianapolis, USA) to in-license a Lilly compound (formerly known as LY307161, now named GTP-010), an analogue of the naturally occurring intestinal hormone GLP-1. The licensing agreement is a result of an ongoing research collaboration the two companies have participated in since 2004.