FeRx Raises $6.1M to Develop Chemotherapy Treatment Technology
Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. hopes a positive Phase II trial of its antisense drug in patients with non-small cell lung cancer will show success at the next stage.
Isis said Oct. 18 it started a Phase III trial testing its cancer drug in 600 patients in 60 centers in the United States and Europe.
One group of patients will be infused with the firm’s drug ISIS 3521 for the first two weeks of a three-week cycle while receiving standard chemotherapy, Isis reported.
The other group will receive only chemotherapy.
The Phase III trial will go on for about three years, a company spokeswoman said.
Results of the ongoing Phase II trial showed that ISIS 3521 combined with two standard chemotherapy drugs, carboplatin and paclitaxel, helped prolong patients’ lives.
About 20 patients of the 39 participating patients survived 19 months after being treated with the combined therapy, said Isis spokeswoman Karen Lundstedt.
The typical median survival of patients receiving standard chemotherapy is about eight months, Isis reported.
Some 1.1 million people are suffering from the deadly cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most prevalent form of lung cancer affecting some 500,000 people in the United States, Japan and Europe.
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Financial Boost: San Diego-based FeRx Inc. said Oct. 23 it raised $6.1 million in new funding from a Series C private round of financing.
The money will allow the biotech firm to further develop its unique drug delivery technology called magnetic targeted carriers.
FeRx uses magnets to deliver chemotherapy directly to the sites of tumors.
The firm hopes this method will achieve a higher therapeutic effect while limiting the debilitating toxicity resulting from chemotherapy.
Jacqueline Johnson, president and CEO of FeRx, said the funding will enable FeRx to look for other delivery agents in treating other solid tumors.
FeRx’s initial program focused on the delivery of doxorubicin, a widely used chemotherapy agent.
FeRx has raised $18 million to date. Investors include Brentwood Venture Capital, Whittier Ventures LLC, Technology Venture Partners and several Canadian institutional investors.
More Money: Ontogen Corp. said Oct. 13 it raised $16.3 million through a private offering of Series D preferred stock, which will allow it to further develop its diabetes and cancer drug candidates.
“We have clearly established our ability to bring automated discovery technologies into the traditional R & D; process,” said Barry Toyonaga, Ontogen’s president and CEO.
Ontogen recently introduced a technology called OntoChrom used to purify potential drug candidates, a critical step in the drug discovery process, Ontogen said.
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Buyout: San Diego-based Aurora Biosciences Corp. bought Iowa-based Quorum Sciences in a stock deal worth about $3.8 million.
Aurora, which developed a system to screen drug makers’ potential drugs faster and cheaper, said in a press release Quorum’s technology in biofilms fits nicely with their overall expansion strategy.
Quorum identifies potential drugs that can block communities of bacteria, also called “biofilms,” said Doug Farrell, senior director of investor relations at Aurora. Biofilms make antibiotics ineffective, which can be devastating for patients, he said.
The buyout comes six months after Aurora announced its alliance with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to develop new therapies.
“In cystic fibrosis patients, respiratory infections via biofilm is the No. 1 cause of death,” Farrell said.
Send biotech news to Marion Webb at mwebb@sdbj.com.
