A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates for hepatitis D and hepatitis C has secured $4.6 million of its targeted $5 million funding round.
Company name: Eiger Biopharmaceuticals.
Industry: Pharmaceuticals.
Location: Palo Alto, California.
Solution/product: Eiger develops treatments for hepatitis. According to its website, it has two hepatitis delta virus drug candidates (EBP921 and EBP994) in phase 2 development as well as a hepatitis C drug.
Infection with hepatitis D occurs alongside an acute hepatitis B infection (coinfection), or in a chronically infected hepatitis B carrier (superinfection). In its acute form, it typically clears on its own, but when it occurs in a person with chronic hepatitis B, it has a mortality rate that’s 10 times higher than that of hepatitis B alone and is associated with more severe liver damage. According to its website, Eiger’s approach to treatment uses prenylation inhibitors, originally studied by researchers without success in solid tumors, to block replication of the hepatitis D life cycle.
Money raised: According to a recently filed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission document, Eiger has raised $4.6 million since April of 2011, nearly completing its goal of raising $5 million. Previously, the company raised an $8.3 million series A in 2010.
How it will be used: A company representative did not respond to a request for an interview. According to clinicaltrial.gov, the company is recruiting for a phase 1 study of EBP921 in HDV patients and has completed a phase 1 study of its hepatitis C drug.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Investors: unknown.
Management team: President and CEO David Cory has an extensive background in commercialization and business development, previously working as CEO of metabolic disease company DiObex, which sold off its diabetes drug and shut down in April of 2009, and chief operating officer of Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Biovail Pharmaceuticals for $150 million in 2008. The founder and director is Dr. Jeffrey Glenn, an associate professor of medicine, gastroenterology and hepatology at Stanford University, and the director of the Center for Hepatitis and Liver Tissue Engineering.
Market opportunity: There is no approved treatment for HDV, although a 2011 study found that Peginterferon alfa-2a caused sustained HDV RNA clearance in one-quarter of HDV-infected subjects. It’s most prevalent in the Middle East, Central Asia, South America and West Africa.
According to the World Health Organization, up to 3 percent of the world’s population is infected with hepatitis C. Annual drug sales total $5 billion, but a number of new drugs are in development by Gilead Sciences, Achillon Pharmaceuticals, NovaTarg, Scynexis and others. Merck and Vertex Pharmaceuticals had drugs approved last year, and GSK has also filed for regulatory approval of its low platelet drug Promacta in treating hepatitis C. Bristol-Myers Squibb hasn’t been as successful; it discontinued a trial of its drug last month after one patient died of heart failure.
