Cortendo Invest AB is a pharmaceutical R&D company focusing on the discovery and development of innovative medicines that treat the underlying cause of disease, thereby offering benefits beyond symptom control. Cortendo´s first development product - CORT001 - targets and underlying mechanism in Metabolic Syndrome. CORT001 – ketoconazole, a well-known and well-documented antimycotic substance, in a novel patent protected pharmaceutical formulation.

The origins of a new therapeutic strategy

The research on which Cortendo´s patent portfolio were laid in the early 1980s when researcher began investigations into the pathophysiology of obesity and related metabolic disorders at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. The breakthrough came in 1991 when they realised that normalising the synthesis of the stress hormone, cortisol, addresses an important underlying biological mechanism in the development of Metabolic Syndrome.

From concept to company

The first patent for the concept of normalising cortisol synthesis as a treatment for Metabolic Syndrome was filed in 1994. Further research provided proof of concept in patients with severe Metabolic Syndrome, and Cortendo was formally established in late 1996. Cortendo continues to vigorously drive R&D, financing and management programmes in order to keep the development of CORT001 and the Company´s product pipeline on schedule.

Milestones already achieved include:

Positive results from Proof-of-Concept study.

Patents protecting all current and future compounds acting at any point on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to down-regulate cortisol effects in order to treat Type 2 Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome.

	Positive results from Phase IIa clinical study.
	Nomination of CORT002 as second generation candidate compound.
	Positive results from tox-studies with CORT002.