Developing a drug from scratch can take well over a decade and cost well in excess of $1 billion. Repurposed drugs can have a much shorter route to regulatory approval, and they have a much higher overall rate of approval – and at a fraction of the cost of de novo drugs. For patients dying or suffering, speed to market can mean life or death.

Repurposed drugs also offer a lower risk approach to drug development, because of their known safety profile.

What’s more, by seeking out drugs for which there is a new biologic understanding and where existing human data support a new indication, Woolsey Pharmaceuticals can further lessen the risks inherent in drug discovery.

In late 2019, Woolsey licensed exclusive rights to the drug fasudil from a leading Japanese pharmaceutical company. Fasudil is approved in Japan and China in an IV formulation for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm.

Our drug, BRAVYL®, is an oral version of fasudil, and will be developed for other indications.

We currently have three clinical trials for BRAVYL, one for Wandering in dementia patients, one for patients suffering from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) or Corticobasal Syndrome (CBS), and a study in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients.