Cytometix Inc. has raised $1.9 million in equity to further development of a drug that treats pain, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company plans to use the funding to take the drug to the point at which it can file an Investigational New Drug application with federal regulators, CEO Lane Brostrom said. He expects that to happen sometime next year.
The funding could also help finance Phase 1 trials of the drug, Brostrom said.
Cytometix has collaborated with the Medical College of Wisconsin in developing the drug. David Harder, Cytometix’s chief scientific consultant, is the former director of the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Cardiovascular Center.
The pain drug works by inducing the brain to release beta endorphin, a naturally occurring opiate neurotransmitter released when the body is under stress.
For competitive reasons, Brostrom was reluctant to provide much detail of Cytometix’s plans. “I don’t want anybody getting too curious,” he said.
Cytometix is also developing a drug to treat asthma, but it’s about a year behind the pain drug in the development life cycle, Brostrom said.
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.
The fundraise was sourced from angel investors, with the date of the first sale on July 2. The minimum investment accepted was $12,500, according to the regulatory document.
In addition to private funding, Cytometix has been financed through an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The company was founded in 2004, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
