West Coast Editor

With $30 million in hand from a Series C financing, MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it plans to have one of its superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetics in a second Phase II trial this year, and another from the class entering Phase II next year.

"We have about $31 million in cash [with the financing], and we believe that will take us to initial proof of human efficacy," said Constantine Anagnostopoulos, chairman of St. Louis-based MetaPhore. "Timewise, that's well into 2004."

MetaPhore's lead SOD mimetics are M40403 and M40419. M40403 is in Phase II trials for refractory hypotension and scheduled to enter Phase II studies for acute pain shortly. M40419 is undergoing a Phase I safety trial, after which a target indication will be chosen for the Phase II work.

Privately held MetaPhore noted that SOD mimetics seem to have wide potential application, but the company does not expect to use M40419 in hypotension. Instead, it has other second-generation molecules that seem promising in the area, said Phillip Cooper, vice president of finance for MetaPhore.

Hypotension was chosen as one indication because the endpoint is clear and the trials are simple, Cooper said, but pain is "out of the two areas we've had experience in, in humans."

Anagnostopoulos noted that pain "borders on inflammation," another of the areas (such as cancer) where the ubiquitous SOD might have value.

"Everybody says they are unique, but to our knowledge this is the first case of packaging an essential human enzyme into a small molecule with very strong patent protection and multiple product potential," Anagnostopoulos told BioWorld Today, noting that the company has 30 patents and another 27 pending.

Although some might confuse MetaPhore's injectable drug with a fairly well-known health food supplement (often marketed as an anti-aging pill), "with knowledgeable people, we haven't had that," Anagnostopoulos said.

"The bovine analogue enzyme was used and is still used in Europe for inflammation," he pointed out. "However, it's very short lived and, being bovine derived, it has some immune system complications. We were able to put it into a small, versatile molecule. Our scientists have been with this project for over 10 years, and we have extensive knowledge of its activity."

MetaPhore will develop the SOD mimetics on its own while talking with potential partners.

"Which way we go will depend on the affordability and the cost of clinicals," Anagnostopoulos said. "We'd like to do both eventually, to [save] some indications for us."

Although the first versions are injected, "we have exciting leads in oral and, of course, topical," he added.

The round was led by HealthCare Ventures VI LP, of Princeton, N.J.; Advent Venture Partners, of London; and Merrill Lynch Ventures LP, of New York. Additional financing was provided by new and existing investors, including Prolog Ventures, Gryphon Holdings and Clayton Capital Investors, all of St. Louis; and SImile Investors, of Iowa City, Iowa.

"This financing is our first from tier-one venture capital groups," Anagnostopoulos said. "We tried to get a broad coverage."

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., a St. Louis-based investment banking firm, provided financial advisory services to MetaPhore.