Onychomycosis is an economically important disease of the toe nails, finger nails and surrounding skin that affects at least 12% of the world's population and as such, provides a potential global market worth in the order of $3 bn. Nail fungus is not merely a cosmetic condition; it impacts the quality of life of those affected, causing pain, discomfort and embarrassment.

Current treatment options are limited (only four products have ever been licensed for this difficult to treat condition) and exist in both tablet (oral) or lacquer (topical) form. These treatments require lengthy treatment periods, are costly and most often poor in efficacy (at best, have a success rate of 38% in patients with mild-to-moderate disease) with relapse of infection post-treatment and drug-resistance in the causative fungi all too common. Oral therapies for nail fungus are also associated with a range of well-described side effects and toxicity. The need for a more effective, safe, cost-effective and patient-friendly treatment for this very common condition is clear and is what NovaBiotics has achieved with Novexatin^®.

Novexatin^® has been proven as being safe and very well tolerated in two clinical studies and is unique in being able to resolve infection with only one month's once-daily treatment. Novexatin^® represents a therapeutic step-change as a nail-penetrating, fast-acting, safe and resistant-free antifungal treatment. Novexatin^® has the potential to address the shortcomings (particularly treatment time and safety) of currently available onychomycosis therapies. This is especially relevant for an estimated 50% of nail infection patients who cannot or will not use currently available therapies.

NovaBiotics’ clinical stage lead therapeutic candidate is Novexatin^®, a topical brush-on treatment for fungal nail infections (onychomycosis). Novexatin^® is the first ever product developed to address both the underlying cause of the onychomycosis by killing the fungi but also to resolve the cosmetic issues associated with this condition; rapidly improving nail appearance from the onset of treatment. The active pharmaceutical ingredient of Novexatin^® is NP213, NovaBiotics' patented antifungal peptide that was designed to rapidly kill target fungi and to be able to penetrate nail to do so.