By Karen Pihl-Carey

Privately held Adolor Corp. completed a private placement, raising the company more than $12.3 million to advance its lead product candidates.

The financing "provides the additional capital to advance the clinical development of our two lead product candidates, ADL 8-2698 and ADL 10-0101," said Peter Schied, chief financial officer of Malvern, Pa.-based Adolor.

Schied declined to say anything more about the placement.

Several long-standing investors participated in the private placement. They included Alta Partners and Weiss, and Peck & Greer, both of San Francisco; ARCH Venture Partners, of Chicago; Tredegar Investments, of Seattle; OneLiberty Partners, of Boston; S.R. One Ltd. and TL Ventures, both of Wayne, Pa.; and Falcon Technology Partners, of Devon, Pa. All of those same investors participated in an $8.5 million private placement completed in March 1999.

The most recent private placement also involved several new investors, including OrbiMed Advisors, of New York.

With this, its fifth round of financing, the company has raised a total of about $45 million since its inception in 1994.

The financing will help advance ADL 8-2698 into multiple Phase III trials to treat narcotic-induced bowel dysfunction. It also will help continue development of the candidate for the indications of narcotic-induced nausea and post-surgical ileus, said Adolor president and CEO John Farrar in a statement.

"Additionally, the proceeds from this financing will fund the expansion of Adolor's peripheral kappa analgesic program, including ADL 10-0101, which is currently in Phase II clinical development," Farrar said. "We believe this financing reflects support of the significant progress we have made in the clinic with our product candidates."

Results of Phase I and Phase II trials of ADL 8-2698, an orally administered, gut restricted narcotic antagonist, demonstrated the ability of the compound to reverse the effects of narcotic-induced bowel dysfunction without precipitating withdrawal or interfering with the analgesic effects of morphine and other narcotics. The trials showed that ADL 8-2698 reversed the slowing of upper and lower gut motility, reversed acute constipation and did not reduce analgesia. It was safe with no significant side effects at doses 50 to 100 times the therapeutic dose, Adolor said.

In October, Adolor exercised its option for an exclusive worldwide license from Roberts Pharmaceutical Corp., of Eatontown, N.J., to ADL 8-2698. Financial terms of the exercised option were not disclosed.

Adolor also has two other products in Phase II trials. ADL 10-0101, a peripherally restricted kappa opioid analgesic, is in Phase II to treat visceral and post-surgical pain, and ADL 2-1294, a topical peripheral opioid anti-hyperalgesic, is in Phase II to treat inflammatory corneal pain.

ADL 2-1294 was licensed in July to SmithKline Beecham plc, of London, in an agreement worth up to $48 million. (See BioWorld Today, July 28, 1999, p. 1.)