By Karen Pihl-Carey

InterMune Pharmaceuticals Inc. completed a private placement of Series B preferred stock, raising about $27 million to support the marketing of Actimmune for chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and osteopetrosis, as well as to advance it through the clinic for other indications.

"It's an exciting time for the company," said Scott Harkonen, president and CEO of InterMune. "So it's a good time to get this investment in so we can push these trials forward aggressively."

InterMune was expected to present the news today at the 18th annual Chase H&Q Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

All existing investors, including Genentech Inc. and Connetics Corp., participated in the placement. New York-based Warburg, Pincus & Co. LLC, a new investor, led the financing. Another new investor was Alta Partners LLC, of San Francisco.

"There's a lot of momentum in the company, I think," Harkonen told BioWorld Today. "This kind of reflects it. We had intended to raise $15 million, possibly $20 million, depending on valuation and demand, so going up to $27 million reflects the absolutely significant demand for the company's stock."

Privately held InterMune, of Palo Alto, Calif., was originally a subsidiary of Connetics Corp., also of Palo Alto, created when the parent company in-licensed Actimmune (interferon gamma-1b) from developer Genentech, of South San Francisco, in May 1998. But in April, Connetics spun out InterMune by selling the majority of its ownership to outside investors. (See BioWorld Today, April 30, 1999, p. 1.)

InterMune raised $7.5 million in its first round of financing, completed in August.

Actimmune was approved in 1991 to treat CGD, a rare, inherited disorder. InterMune filed a biologics license application in August for Actimmune to treat osteopetrosis, a rare, life-threatening bone disorder.

"It [the osteopetrosis market] is similar in size to the CGD market. We think combined they represent a $20 million market opportunity," Harkonen said.

He added the company expects FDA approval of Actimmune to treat osteopetrosis in the first quarter of this year.

The company also is moving forward with trials of Actimmune in other indications. A Phase II trial in systemic fungal infections is expected to begin this quarter, as is a pivotal Phase III trial in multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Actimmune also will be tested in a pivotal Phase II/III trial in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), an indication that offers a major market opportunity for InterMune, Harkonen said.

"That's a big market. That's a $2.5 billion market opportunity, so it's sort of the blockbuster indication," he said. "And the infectious disease indications together are probably a $1 billion market opportunity."

A randomized, controlled study of patients with IPF demonstrated that those who were treated with Actimmune plus an oral glucocorticoid for 12 months showed significant improvements in lung condition, compared with patients in the control group.