The European Innovation Council (EIC) has given €2.5m ($2.67m) to Danish biopharmaceutical company ResoTher Pharma to advance the development of its lead compound, RTP-026.

As one of 47 projects to receive EIC funding, RTP-026 will be trialled in a Phase IIa clinical study for myocardial infarction.

The projects were selected from 648 proposals filed under the EIC's accelerator programme for assessment.

Under the 'grant first' funding, ResoTher Pharma will be considered for an additional grant from the European Investment Bank once the Phase IIa trial has finished.

This dose-ranging trial will evaluate RTP-026's efficacy and safety in a subgroup comprising high-risk patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction and undergoing acute percutaneous coronary intervention.

The trial subjects will be recruited at the Barts Heart Centre at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, UK.

RTP-026 is designed to regulate the inflammatory response in the heart during the healing period of myocardial infarction.

The compound is an IP-protected analogue of the N-terminus of the Annexin A1 protein.

It was developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London, having been designed and characterised in Professor Mauro Petretti's laboratory at the William Harvey Research Institute.

According to data from a Phase I study in healthy subjects, RTP-026 demonstrated a robust safety profile in single and repeated doses, with encouraging plasma exposure.

ResoTher Pharma CEO Anders Kronborg said: “The EIC Grant is a major boost to our RTP-026 development programme.

“It has made it possible to focus entirely on development, thereby accelerating the Phase IIa development path with the aim to initiate dosing in Q1 2024.”

ResoTher Pharma previously received a non-diluting grant from the Danish Innovation Fund and Barts Charity.

The company was founded in 2016 and focuses on developing compounds that induce inflammatory resolution in cardiovascular diseases.