Israeli drug development co Polypid raises $22m

drugs, medicine  picture: thinkstock
drugs, medicine picture: thinkstock

The new funding will finance trials in synthetic bone substitutes and post-cardiac surgery infection treatments.

Israeli clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company Polypid Ltd. has closed a $22 million private equity Series D financing round. The financing was co-led by new investor Shavit Capital and current investor Aurum Ventures. The round also included participation of Chaim Hurvitz who will now head the company's board of directors, as well as other existing shareholders.

The Petah Tikva based drug developer is focused primarily on the development of a post-surgical anti-infection pipeline.

The new investment is expected to facilitate the completion of an ongoing confirmatory European clinical trial in severe open tibia fractures for BonyPid-1000™, the company's proprietary investigational doxycycline-loaded synthetic bone substitute, which is planned to be completed by 2017. The company also plans to finance the initiation of phase III clinical study for its lead product, D-PLEX™ designed to prevent post-cardiac surgery Sternal infections, where approximately 40% of infections are fatal.

Polypid CEO Amir Weisberg said, "The commitment from both new and existing investors provides us with the necessary resources to advance our pipeline towards commercialization, initiate our own GMP manufacturing facility and further invest in early-stage PLEX™ programs that can fuel our growth over the long term in the area of post-surgery infections and pain management. With this financing in place, we are well positioned to advance our drug candidates that address unmet medical needs in post-surgical care."

Shavit Capital founding and managing partner Gary Leibler said, "PolyPid joins our portfolio of companies which have developed a core technology that has the potential to serve as the foundation of several multi-billion dollar product lines. The company's recent progress, as evidenced by the initiation of the final CE mark certification clinical trial for BonyPid-1000™ as well as the preparation for a phase III clinical trial for D-PLEX™ in the US has ensured that we were able to complete a relatively large round of finance comprising first tier investors."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 24, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

drugs, medicine  picture: thinkstock
drugs, medicine picture: thinkstock
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