Logical Therapeutics has pulled in the first $10 million in a planned $16.9 million round, according to Xconomy, citing documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company's president declined comment on the SEC filing, but several weeks ago the Waltham, MA-based developer revealed that it had begun a Phase IIb trial of a new form of naproxen, an NSAID pain therapy known to be very effective but one that has also been linked to a long list of side effects. Finding a safe form of the drug has become one of the Holy Grails of drug development, but it's no easy task.
The quest has caused some profound headaches for companies like France's NicOx. By a vote of 16 to 1, an FDA panel recently maintained that NicOx never successfully made the case that its nitric-oxide-releasing approach made their NSAID pain drug any safer than the other NSAIDs that have already been on the market.
Logical's approach is to develop a drug that is inactive in the gastrointestinal tract but which becomes active in the bloodstream, writes Xconomy's Luke Timmerman. The developer plans to recruit 534 patients by the fourth quarter of the year, testing the therapy in patients with arthritic knees.
Logical raised a $30 million Series B round led by SV Life Sciences in mid-2007. Other investors participating in the Series B financing included Burrill & Company, Novo A/S, Sigvion Capital and PA Early Stage Partners.
- here's the story from Xconomy