Pharmlink Raises SEK35M for Late-Stage Development of Nefecon and Busulipo

Pharmalink raised SEK35 million (about $5.1 million) through a rights issue of new shares to existing shareholders. The firm will use the funds to progress its lead clinical-stage candidates Nefecon® and Busulipo™. Nephecon is poised to start in pivotal trials for the treatment of patients with IgA nephropathy. Busulipo is in development as a conditioning agent for use prior to hemotopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and is also being prepared for late-stage clinical trials.

Nefecon is an enteric formulation of a locally acting corticosteroid and is the first product to be developed specifically for patients with IgA nephropathy, Pharmalink claims.  The drug has been formulated using Archimedes Development’s gastrointestinal-targeting delivery platform, Targit™, to which Pharmlink has an exclusive, worldwide licence for use with Nefecon.

Existing Pharmalink shareholder Industrifonden participated in the latest SEK35 million share issue. “As part of Industrifonden’s investment strategy, we are seeking to direct more significant capital to work in those companies we believe will deliver major successes,” comments Lennart Hansson, investment director and member of the Pharmalink Board. “Pharmlink is very much in that category. The company has shown the quality of its drug development capabilities through successful outlicensing and, in Busulipo and Nefecon, has product candidates with the potential to generate great value for investors.”

Busulipo has been developed as a liposome/lipid complex formulation to improve the safety and stability of the chemotherapy agent busulfan, which currently represents the gold standard for use in conditioning prior to HSCT. Busulipo eliminates the need for using the toxic solvent DMA and provides greater product stability after reconstitution.