Portola Raises $60M in Series C Extension

Tag : clopidogrel bisulfate

Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised $60 million in a Series Cextension round to drive its two lead cardiovascular productcandidates through Phase II clinical trials.
The financing follows a $70 million Series C round raised in 2007,a $46 million Series B round raised in 2005, and a $21 millionSeries A raised in 2003. Altogether, that's nearly $200 million - ahefty chunk of change, but necessary to support cardiovasculartrials, which require "a lot of money up front" but offer "verysignificant" commercial upside, said Portola Chief FinancialOfficer Mardi Dier.
Dier added that Portola's lead drugs, the anticoagulant betrixaban(formerly PRT054021) and the antiplatelet agent PRT060128, bothaddress "multi-billion-dollar markets."
Betrixaban is an oral Factor Xa inhibitor designed to compete withwarfarin, which is used acutely to prevent blood clots aftersurgery and chronically in atrial fibrillation patients athigh-risk of stroke. Although warfarin is available generically,Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. still booked $201 million in revenues lastyear with its brand name version, Coumadin.
Portola anticipates that betrixaban will offer several advantagesover warfarin, including once-daily oral dosing and lowpeak-to-trough variability, which means patients would potentiallyrequire less monitoring and dose adjustment to avoid bleedingepisodes.
In a Phase II trial, betrixaban was well tolerated for theprevention of venous thromboembolic events (VTE) in patientsundergoing total knee replacement surgery. The incidence of VTE was20 percent, 15 percent and 10 percent in patients receivinglow-dose betrixaban, high-dose betrixaban, and Lovenox (enoxaparin,Sanofi-Aventis Group), respectively.
Many people encouraged Portola to move into a similarly designedPhase IIb/III trial, which would be the fastest way to get the drugto market, said Portola President and CEO Charles Homcy. But Homcytold BioWorld Today he felt betrixaban's differentiating qualities would "really winin chronic markets." So the company decided to postpone its PhaseIII plans for the moment and focus on a 500-patient Phase II trialcomparing the safety and tolerability of betrixaban to warfarin inthe prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Thattrial is scheduled to begin later this year.
Portola is also developing PRT060128, an antiplatelet agentdesigned to compete with the blockbuster Plavix (clopidogrelbisulfate, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi Aventis Group). Butonce again, Portola believes its drug offers advantages includingquicker onset of action and reversibility, which allows it to begiven before surgery. Additionally, PRT060128 is available bothintravenously for acute use and orally for chronic use.
As with betrixaban, Portola plans to prove the merits of PRT060128by going head-to-head against the competition. An 800-patient PhaseII trial comparing the safety, tolerability and efficacy of Plavixto PRT060128 given intravenously and then orally in patientsundergoing elective percutaneous coronary interventions isscheduled to begin later this year.
As of now, Portola owns the rights to both programs, although Homcysaid partnership discussions around betrixaban have begun and thedrug is receiving "a good deal of interest." Partnering activityfor PRT060128 is expected to become more of a priority after thePhase II trial.
South San Francisco-based Portola also plans to use some of themoney from its latest financing to advance its preclinicalpipeline. The company hopes to file an investigational new drugapplication in 2009 for one of the small molecules in its Syk andJAK inhibitor program, which has shown preclinical proof-of-conceptin inflammation. Following in late 2009 or early 2010 will be anIND filing for a Factor Xa antidote, which could be used to stopbleeding caused by a Factor Xa inhibitor. The company is alsoworking on a substitute aspirin product for patients with aspirinintolerance.
The financing was led by new investor D.E. Shaw & Co.Additional new investors included Adage Capital Management, BBTCapital Management/Apothecary Capital, Janus Capital Group Inc. andPac-Link BioVentures.
Portola's existing investors also participated in the round,including Abingworth, Advanced Technology Ventures,AllianceBernstein LP, Alta Partners, Brookside Capital, ChinaInvestment & Development Co., Frazier Healthcare, GoldmanSachs, IBT Management Corp., MPM Capital, Prospect Ventures, SutterHill Ventures, and Teachers' Private Capital, the privateinvestment arm of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
In other financing news:
" American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. , of New York, announced the pricing of a private offering of $115million for its convertible senior notes due 2015. The notes willpay interest semiannually at a rate of 5 percent per annum and willbe convertible at an initial conversion rate of 107.6195 shares per$1,000 principal, which is equal to an initial conversion price ofapproximately $9.29 per share. This represents a 15 percentconversion premium based on the last reported sale price of $8.08per share on July 8.


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Business Management , Drugs , Healthcare Practice Specialties , Cardiology , Internal Medicine , Major Corporations , Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology , Pharmaceutical Products , Major Pharmaceutical Firms , Cardiovascular Drugs , Company Profiles