19 May 2017 07:00
Arix Bioscience leads $65 million Series B investment round for Iterum
- Funding pivotal Phase 3 trial for novel antibiotic sulopenem
- Investment in Ireland-based company focused on developing differentiated anti-infectives aimed at combatting pathogens
LONDON, 19 May, 2017: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX) ("Arix Bioscience" or "the Company"), a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, today announced that Iterum, a new Arix Group Business, has closed a Series B investment round raising $65 million.
Arix Bioscience led the raise which included new investors Advent Life Sciences, Domain Associates, Bay City Capital and Pivotal bioVenture Partners. All Iterum's previous investors (Frazier Healthcare Partners, Canaan Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and New Leaf Venture Partners) also participated in the financing round. Arix Bioscience's Mark Chin will join Iterum's Board of Directors.
Iterum is developing sulopenem, a novel oral and intravenous antibiotic, known as a penem, for the treatment of Gram-negative multi-drug resistant infections. Sulopenem, with a safety and efficacy profile similar to other penems, has demonstrated broad-spectrum coverage, including Gram-negative pathogens, and has shown potent in-vitro activity against Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL) mutants of E. coli and K. pneumonia. These pathogens are the most commonly associated with our initial indications of interest: uncomplicated urinary tract infections, complicated urinary tract infections and complicated intra-abdominal infections (uUTI, cUTI and cIAI).
The proceeds of this financing will be used to complete a Phase 3 pivotal trial in uUTI and to advance the broader Phase 3 pivotal program. Trials are expected to begin in the first half of 2018 and Iterum plans to file an NDA with the FDA by year end 2019.
Iterum is led by a highly experienced team including CEO Corey Fishman and CSO Michael Dunne MD, both of whom were key executives at Durata, which developed the new antibiotic DALVANCE (dalbavancin), and which was acquired by Actavis in 2014 for up to $809m.
Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience plc, commented: "Iterum has made great progress since its launch and we are very excited about its potential. We are privileged to join the company at this stage in its development and to help support the achievement of its goals. Arix is delighted to have led this $65m funding round comprising many of the biotech sector's leading specialist investors. This is a significant deal for Arix, the first since our recent IPO, and one which further demonstrates the depth and quality of our pipeline."
For more information, please contact:
Arix Bioscience plc
Joe Anderson, CEO
+44 (0) 20 7290 1052
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Jessica Hodgson, Ivar Milligan
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
arix@consilium-comms.com
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com
About Iterum Therapeutics Limited
Iterum Therapeutics Limited is an Irish clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing differentiated anti-infectives aimed at combatting the global crisis of multi-drug resistant pathogens to significantly improve the lives of people affected by serious and life-threatening diseases around the world. Iterum is advancing its first compound, sulopenem, a novel penem anti-infective compound with oral and IV formulations in an IV only class of antibiotics that has demonstrated potent in-vitro activity against a wide variety of gram-negative, gram-positive and anaerobic bacteria resistant to other antibiotics. Iterum has received QIDP designations for its oral and IV formulations for the treatment of uUTI, cUTI and cIAI. Iterum is led by a highly experienced team and backed by a blue-chip venture capital syndicate including Canaan, Frazier, New Leaf and Sofinnova. For more information, please visit www.iterumtx.com
Arix leads $65m Series B Iterum investment round