Drug-delivery company Cibus Pharmaceutical Inc. announcedThursday that it has raised $9.6 million in its second round ofventure capital financing.

Led by Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., the investors included theSprout Group, Hancock Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, MDSHealth Ventures Inc. and Advent International Corp.

Privately held Cibus of Redwood City, Calif., has targeted thefunds to complete Phase II and initiate Phase III humanstudies of its lead product candidate, CP408, as well as toadvance the preclinical development of its wound-healingtherapy.

Cibus' drug-delivery technology, termed Geltrx, relies on anovel blend of natural plant fibers, which are intended toenhance the bioavailability of drugs by inhibiting pancreaticenzymatic activity, reducing gastrointestinal side effects andprolonging time between doses.

"The system has the potential to protect the lining of thestomach from irritants," explained Jerome Arnold, Cibus'president and chief executive officer. "We've been workingwith aspirin and non-steroidal compounds, as well as Zantac(ranitidine) to prolong the drugs' residence time in the smallintestine and achieve greater absorption of the drug," Arnoldsaid. Cibus researchers next will investigate a means ofdelivering peptides and proteins orally.

Cibus is already in clinical trials with its cholesterol-loweringdrug candidate, CP408, which consists of niacin (a B vitamin)combined with the Geltrx delivery system.

"Niacin is the broadest-spectrum lipid-lowering agent known,"Arnold told BioWorld. "It's the drug of choice -- after diet -- tolower plasma levels of all lipids; it affects all lipid functions,even lipoprotein A."

But at high doses, niacin produces certain undesirable sideeffects, most notably flushing. "We want to minimize the sideeffects and improve the uptake and utilization of niacin,"Arnold added.

Meanwhile, Cibus recently licensed a "unique wound-healingnon-peptide from a major pharmaceutical company that inanimal models of second-degree burns has the ability toaccelerate healing." Arnold said. Cibus will begin preclinicalformulation studies of this compound in the next 60 days andhopes to file an investigational new drug (IND) application forclinical trials by the first half of 1994.

-- Jennifer Van Brunt Senior Editor

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.