SAN DIEGO, Calif. —April 8, 2010—Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug development company focused on creating best-in-class small molecule drugs, announced that it has completed its initial round of $1.5 million Series A Preferred with investments from Golden Seeds LLC, a nationwide angel group that invests in women-led companies. Life Science Angels and Tech Coast Angels also participated in the round.
Amplyx will use this investment to further demonstrate use of the company’s proprietary technology to improve existing drugs by controlling their concentration and time at their targets. Additionally, the company announced that it expects to expand this round to fund continued development of its intellectual property while it seeks a Series B Preferred round of venture capital.
As part of the Series A completion, Mary Lake Polan, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, committed to serve as an Amplyx board observer. She currently serves on the board of Quidel and was a member of the Wyeth board prior to that company’s acquisition by Pfizer.
“We were very impressed with the extensive due diligence performed by Golden Seeds prior to this investment and believe that the group will provide valuable advice in addition to their capital,” said Elaine Heron, Amplyx CEO. “The addition of Dr. Polan, a very experienced pharmaceutical board member, as a board observer is especially welcomed.”
About Amplyx Pharmaceuticals
Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pre-clinical stage small molecule drug development company with a portfolio of internally discovered candidates with improved the therapeutic properties. Approximately 50 percent of marketed drugs have one or more serious absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (known as “ADME”) problems. Amplyx has created a platform technology that can significantly improve the ADME properties of approved small molecule drugs. This technology, known as SLF, works by chemically and permanently attaching a non-toxic, small molecule with a long metabolic half-life to effective, approved drugs with ADME and/or toxicity issues. The SLF process creates a new, patentable compound that is both effective and safe.
