Pharma, Startups

Viamet spinout Innocrin Pharma raises $8M for hard-to-treat prostate cancer

Innocrin Pharmaceuticals, the spanking-new spinout of successful antifungal company Viamet, just raised $8 million according to […]

Innocrin Pharmaceuticals, the spanking-new spinout of successful antifungal company Viamet, just raised $8 million according to regulatory filings. The company has taken Viamet’s findings and translated them as a therapy for a tough-to-treat form of prostate cancer.

This past October, Viamet withdrew its plans to go public in favor of raising $60 million in private equity for its antifungal drug. At the time, it announced the creation of Innocrin Pharmaceuticals, which is now led by Viamet’s former chief scientific officer, William Moore.

Innocrin’s developing a small molecule CYP17 lyase inhibitor that can be taken orally to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer. In early 2015, it plans to begin a multicenter Phase 2 clinical study of its VT-464 candidate in prostate cancer patients that are resistant to Zytiga or Xtandi. The study will be led by Howard Scher, the chief of genitourinary oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“There is urgent medical need for new therapies that effectively treat castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and for predictive diagnostics that identify those patients who will or will not benefit,” Scher said in a statement. “The precision medicine approach will become a reality.”

The Durham, North Carolina-based company things that CYP17 lyase inhibitors might also have commercial potential for breast cancer treatment, as well as non-cancerous diseases that occur from excessive hormones like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The company, which aims to raise $14 million in the round, listed Hatteras Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners, Lilly Ventures, Lurie Holdings and Novartis Ventures on its investment page. It also says it’s on the lookout to partner out.

 

 

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