With antibiotic candidate tedizolid nearing the finish line, Trius Therapeutics Inc. is shoring up its balance sheet with a $29.9 million public offering, strengthening its position ahead of partnering discussions in Europe.

Meanwhile, the San Diego-based firm said top-line data from the second pivotal study in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) are expected around the end of March. And, based on tedizolid's strong showing in the first Phase III trial in late 2011, analysts are expecting positive news, followed by a new drug application for the antibiotic in the second half of 2013.

Under the terms of the offering, Trius priced 6.3 million shares at $4.75 per share, marking a 9.2 percent discount from Thursday's closing price and predictably dropping shares (NASDAQ:TSRX) Friday, the stock closing at $4.90, down 33 cents.

Proceeds, which will be added to the $66 million in cash as of Dec. 31, means "we'll be well capitalized through approval," said President and CEO Jeff Stein.

Last time, the firm waited until after reporting Phase III data before conducting a public offering, raising $45 million last January. That was why investors responded negatively to the stock despite the positive results, "because of the financial overhang," Stein said. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 20, 2011.)

Plus, waiting until after the data are released in March could be a bad idea given the impending debt ceiling crisis.

"Today, there's a fairly open financial window. It's better to [raise money] now than in that period of uncertainty at the end of March," Stein told BioWorld Today.

The cash infusion also will put Trius on more solid footing in partnership discussions. The drug already has an Asian partner – that 2011 deal also gave Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer AG rights in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East – and Trius said it is evaluating alliances for marketing tedizolid in Europe.

Stein said he doesn't anticipate inking a European deal until after data from the second Phase III study become available. In the U.S., the company plans to commercialize on its own, though it has been approached on potential co-promotion scenarios. "We are evaluating those," Stein said.

A co-promotion plan has worked so far for another antibiotic developer, Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc., which signed a two-year deal with Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2011 for Clostridium difficile drug Dificid (fidaxomicin). (See BioWorld Today, June 1, 2011.)

An outright acquisition could be in the cards for Trius, too. In a research note earlier this month, Piper Jaffray analyst Edward Tenthoff called tedizolid a "differentiated MRSA drug," well positioned against both Pfizer Inc.'s Zyvox (linezolid) and Cubicin (daptomycin) from Lexington, Mass.-based Cubist.

Tedizolid's advantage makes "Trius a likely take-out candidate by either Pfizer or Cubist to defend their franchises," Tenthoff said.

Beyond Pfizer, other big pharma firms also could be interested. After more than a decade of shunning antibiotic development, the growing need for drugs against resistant pathogens, changing attitudes in pricing and a boost from the federal government by way of the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) section of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act have combined to make the antibiotic space attractive to bigger players once more.

Tedizolid recently obtained Qualified Infectious Disease Product status under GAIN, which makes the compound eligible for priority review and fast-track designation. Pending positive data, it could hit the market as early as mid-2014.

Trius is banking on the drug's less frequent dosing and better safety and tolerability profile to help it grab a healthy share of the market, even after Zyvox goes off patent in 2015. Data from the first pivotal trial, dubbed ESTABLISH-1, showed that six days of treatment with once-daily tedizolid was noninferior to 10 days of treatment with twice-daily Zyvox in 667 patients with Gram-positive ABSSIs, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Tedizolid also boasted fewer drug-related adverse events and significantly fewer gastrointestinal adverse events. It showed benefits on "safety, tolerability, drug-drug interaction, about every important criterion," Stein said.

Tedizolid also is being tested in pneumonia, in which it also has QIDP status. A Phase III program is slated to start this year.

Earlier in its pipeline, Trius has a new class of broad-spectrum, Gram-negative antibacterial drugs directed at Gyrase B. Impressive preclinical data were reported last year, and the program already is "generating a lot of interest," Stein said, with partnering discussions ongoing.

The Gyrase B program has been funded largely under a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases contract, though a portion of proceeds from the public offering are expected to advance the compounds in investigational new drug application-enabling efforts this year.

Citigroup and Leerink Swann are acting as joint book-running managers, while Baird is acting as a co-lead manager in the offering, set to close Jan. 24. Underwriters have an option to purchase up to 945,000 additional shares, which would add another $4.5 million to the total.

In other financings news:

• Biscayne Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Miami, said it closed a $1.5 million financing to support its work on growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) drugs based on discoveries by scientific advisor Andrew V. Schally, a Nobel laureate who pioneered the field of hypothalamic peptide drugs. The company also said it exclusively licensed intellectual property from the University of Miami, including worldwide rights to the Schally GHRH technology and GHRH antagonists with potential in the treatment of cancer and GHRH agonists with potential in heart disease.