This week's Greater Philadelphia life sciences industry news includes updates on an antibiotic developer's funding deal, a medical device manufacturer's expanded product line, a Chester County gene therapy company's clinical trial, and more.
Here's the roundup:
Venatorx Pharmaceuticals
The clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based in Malvern raised an undisclosed amount of money is a Series C financing that was led by the AMR Action Fund.
The AMR Action Fund is the world’s largest public-private partnership investing in antibiotics, antifungals, and other antimicrobial treatments. The fund was developed by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations and its member biopharmaceutical companies, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust. It was formed to invest $1 billion in clinical-stage biotech companies to help bring new antibiotics to market. Among the drug companies that have invested in the fund are Merck (NYSE: MRK), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).
Existing Venatorx investor Abingworth also participated in the round.
Venatorx plans to use the proceeds from the financing to advance its portfolio of novel antibacterial new drug candidates. That effort is expected to include filing a new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration for cefepime-taniborbactam, which the company is developing as a treatment for complicated urinary tract infections, in the fourth quarter of this year. The company last month announced positive late-stage clinical trial results for the combination antibiotic treatment.
The company is also studying cefepime-taniborbactam as a potential therapy for patients with hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia.
“This financing marks another significant milestone for Venatorx,” said CEO Christopher J. Burns. “Bringing the AMR Action Fund on board — with its consortium of global pharmaceutical companies, industry experts and coalitions — helps to further propel Venatorx forward and brings much needed capital back into the antibiotics space.”
To date, in addition to equity financings, Venatorx has also received funding support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health; the Wellcome Trust; the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service; and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Biocoat
The Horsham-based biomaterials manufacturer has expanded into the design, development and delivery of hydrophilic dip coating equipment.
Biocoat's new equipment line, called Emerse, targets companies who require an in-house dip coating system to coat their medical devices and complete the production process.
Hydrophilic coatings are used in medical devices to reduce surface friction so the device can reach its intended destination as easily as possible.
Jim Moran, Biocoat's CEO, said the company's coating systems will be automated and fully compatible for use on either its Hydak coating products or any other coatings in the market.
Ocugen
The Chester County biotechnology company dosed the first patient for its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of OCU400, Ocugen's modifier gene therapy candidate for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye disease in which the retina is damaged.
The gene therapy is being developed for patients whose disease was cause by a specific genetic mutation. The condition afflicts an estimated 2 million people globally.
Dr. Shankar Musunuri, CEO and co-founder of Ocugen, called the patient dosing "a first and monumentally critical step forward in achieving our mission to cure blindness diseases."
There is currently no approved therapy intended to stop the progression of retinitis pigmentosa based on all of the genetic mutations that cause the disease.
Ocugen (NASDAQ: OCGN) is continuing to develop gene therapies while also working to bring a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Bio to the United States and Canada under a partnership formed last year.
Quick hits
The European Commission approved Immunocore's drug Kimmtrack, a T cell receptor therapy, as a treatment for unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma, a type of cancer. Immunocore (NASDAQ: IMCR), based in Oxfordshire, England, has U.S. offices in Conshohocken and Rockville, Maryland. … Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRCA) of West Chester dosed the first patient in its Phase 2 clinical trial testing its new drug candidate, LTX-315, as a potential treatment of a common type of skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma. The study is expected to enroll up to 66 adult subjects with a histological diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma in at least one eligible target lesion. Verrica also plans to study LTX-315 as a potential treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, another type of skin cancer, in the future. … PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAS), which has offices in Malvern and San Diego, announced positive results from mid-stage testing of bentracimab, the company's new drug candidate designed to reverse the antiplatelet activity of ticagrelor in patients presenting with uncontrolled bleeding or in need of surgery. The Phase 2b study involved 205 volunteers, 154 of whom received bentracimab and 51 who received a placebo. The study was conducted concurrently with PhaseBio’s ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of bentracimab. Dr. John Lee, chief medical officer of PhaseBio, said the company remains on track to submit a biologics license application for the treatment with the FDA in mid-2022.
