Scynexis raises $11.5M of $15M target for investigative cyclophilin inhibitor SCY-635..

Posted on 5/23/12 on MedCity News.com. Scynexis, a company that traditionally provides assistance to other pharma and bio companies with their drug discovery and development, is is the process of raising cash to help fund clinical development of their own pipeline. Furthest along is SCY-635, a cyclophilin inhibitor for Hepatitis C that the company also claims to have 'potential to treat a broad range of diseases'. We haven't heard much about the cyclophilin inhibitor class of compounds in awhile, good to hear that they are still in development. The potential of the cyclophilin inhibitor is to restart the body's own natural production of interferon without providing the sometimes very severe adverse events that come with exogenous interferon injection. This would be an oral medication and would also has the potential to incur less opportunity for resistance found in other oral anti-HCV medications. 

With hepatitis C compound in phase 2, Scynexis raises $11.5M of $15M target

Drug discovery and development company Scynexis, which is in midstage clinical development of a novel hepatitis C treatment, is getting closer to reaching its $15 million fundraising target.

Scynexis has raised nearly $11.5 million so far, according to an amended securities filing. The fundraiser, a mix of equity, debt, options and warrants, launched in December. Sycnexis has raised money from 11 investors to date, according to the filing.

Scynexis’ main business is providing services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with their drug discovery and development efforts. That work generated $18 million in 2011 revenue for the Durham, North Carolina-based company. But Scynexis also aims to develop its own drugs. The company’s drug pipeline is based on cyclophilin inhibitors. The company says this class of drug candidates has the potential to treat a broad range of diseases.

Lead Scynexis compound SCY-635 is being studied as a new hepatitis C treatment. The compound works by reactivating the body’s natural defense mechanism, which in turn inhibits replication of the virus. The current standard of treatment for hepatitis C is recombinant interferon, an injectable treatment that can cause side effects that include headache, fever and chills. SCY-635 offers a potential alternative in the form of a pill that comes with fewer side effects.

Scynexis aims to raise $15M to support phase 2 development of cycophilin inhibitor SCY-635...

(Scynexis aims to raise $15 M to support phase 2 trials for it's lead candidate, cycophilin inhibitor SCY-635 which they hope to eventually replace recombinant interferon)

Scynexis aims to raise $15M; hepatitis C drug candidate in phase 2 trials

Posted By Frank Vinluan On December 19, 2011 @ 11:09 am In MedCity News

Drug discovery and development firm Scynexis which is moving forward on a new hepatitis C treatment, has raised $5 million in a fundraising effort targeted to reach up to $15 million.

A total of nine investors have invested in the round that is a combination of equity, debt, warrants and options, according to securities filings. Durham, North Carolina-based Scynexis’ investors include Alta Partners, Burrill & Company, KBL Healthcare Ventures, Societe Generale, Ventech, CDC Innovation and SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline. Scynexis’ last fundraiser was in 2008 when the company hauled in $13.5 million in equity financing.

Scynexis collaborates with pharmaceutical companies on their drug discovery and development efforts and it already has a long list of drug partners that include Merck, Sanofi and Roche. In the last five years, Scynexis has helped its partners advance 11 preclinical and clinical drug candidates.

The company also has drug candidates of its own. Scynexis’ proprietary internal pipeline is based on cyclophilin inhibitors, a class of drugs that Scynexis believes hold potential to treatment of a broad range of diseases. Hepatitis C is Scynexis’ first target. SCY-635, the first drug candidate to emerge from the drug pipeline, is being studied as a treatment for hepatitis C virus infection. The compound, currently in phase 2 clinical trials, works by reactivating the body’s natural defense mechanism that makes it capable of inhibiting replication of the virus.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 3 percent of the world’s population is infected with hepatitis C and there are more than 170 million carriers at risk of developing liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Scynexis sees SCY-635 as meeting an unmet medical need by serving as a potential replacement for recombinant interferon, the current standard hepatitis C treatment that has several serious side effects.