Achillion Nets $50M through Private Placement to Progress Clinical HCV Pipeline

Firm hopes to file IND applications for two candidates during early 2011.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals expects to net $50 million through a $50.1 million private placement of stock and warrants with a group of institutional and accredited investors. The new funds will be used to progress the firm’s pipeline of clinical candidates against chronic HCV and submit two additional IND applications during early 2011.

Achillion’s in-house pipeline includes three lead candidates for the treatment of chronic HCV infection. ACH-1625 is a NS3 protease inhibitor currently in early Phase II development. ACH-1095 is an agonist of NS4A poised for clinical development. NS4A inhibitors are a class of compounds the firm says has been shown to operate synergistically with other HCV inhibitor drugs. Achillion’s preclinical candidate ACH-2684 is a pan-genotypic inhibitor of HCV NS3 protease that the company says demonstrates picomolar potency.

Achillion is separately developing an internally discovered compound ACH-702 for the treatment of serious nosocomial bacterial infections. The compound is designed to be active against bacterial DNA replication enzymes and is expected to demonstrate efficacy against drug-resistant strains.

Achillion’s nucleoside anti-HIV drug, elvucitabine, is currently undergoing Phase II development. The firm has partnered with GCA Therapeutics and its Chinese joint venture with Tianjing Institute of Pharmaceutical Resaerch to develop and commercialize the drug in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The aim is to sign similar agreements for the development of elvucitabine against HIV and HBV in other global markets.