Horizon Therapeutics has raised $8 million in equity to develop prescription drugs for pain relief, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company raised the money from 26 investors and made the first sale in December, according to the filing. Horizon labeled the fundraise “Series D Preferred Stock financing.”
Horizon has reported previously raising $51 million in private financing from Scale Venture Partners, Pequot Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. It’s not clear whether the $8 million fundraise is included in the $51 million sum, though it likely isn’t since the company’s calling the funding a Series D round. It’s also likely that Horizon will end up raising more than $8 million for its Series D. Company officials weren’t available for comment.
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To make matters more confusing, Horizon filed another fundraising document with the SEC, saying that it had raised $17 million from the sale of debt, options and other securities. However, that filing lists the date of first sale as Oct. 28, 2008, suggesting that the amount was already included in the $51 million figure.
Horizon seeks to capitalize on what it calls “a huge product void for pain relief” after evidence in recent years showed a connection between increased risk of cardiovascular disease and drugs called “Cox-2 inhibitors” like Vioxx. Cox-2 inhibitors were popular because they reduced inflammation and pain associated with arthritis, but did so without causing stomach irritation, unlike most other anti-inflammatory drugs on the market.
So Horizon, which was incorporated in 2005, hopes its lead drug candidate will relieve pain while allowing patients to avoid the side effects of stomach pain and increased stomach acidity. The drug combines two approved agents: famotidine, which lowers acid in the stomach, with ibuprofen, for pain relief, into one pill.
Horizon’s lead drug candidate, called HZT-501, has gone through two Phase 3 clinical trials. Results showed that patients treated with the drug developed approximately 50 percent fewer stomach ulcers compared to patients treated with ibuprofen alone, according to a statement from the company.
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Given that the company completed the Phase 3 trials in December 2008, it’s an open question as to where Horizon is in the process of seeking regulatory approval to sell the drug. It hasn’t issued any press releases since October and it never issued one regarding filing a New Drug Application with the Food and Drug Administration. Once the FDA approves a company’s New Drug Application, the company is free to market and sell the drug.
The company has two other pain relief drug candidates that are in the preclinical stage. In 2008, Horizon moved to Skokie, Ill. from Palo Alto, Calif. shortly after it hired current Chief Executive Timothy Walbert.
Photo from flickr user rodrigo senna
