December 23, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona-based Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company developing therapeutics that reduce the risk of cancer, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $29 million in an initial public offering, IPO Investment Manager Renaissance Capital announced this morning.
Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, had sales of $4 million for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30. The company, which was founded in 2009, plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPP. Aegis Capital Corp. is the sole bookrunner on the deal, Renaissance Capital posted. No pricing terms were disclosed.
Currently Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals is currently sponsoring a Phase III double-blind trial studying the efficacy and safety of the experimental CPP-1X/sulindac (eflornithine/sulindac) compared with CPP-1X and sulindac as single agents in 150 patients with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. Each patient will undergo daily treatment for two years to minimize the occurrence and/or recurrence of problematic polyps and tumors associated with the debilitating disease. CPP began enrolling patients for this trial earlier this month. CPP is working with Japan-based Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in the development of CPP-1X/sulindac for the treatment of FAP. The company struck a development and commercialization deal with Zeria in early 2014 that could be worth up to $100 million.
FAP is an inherited disorder often characterized by cancer of the colon and rectum. The disease can begin as polyps forming in the large intestine that could become cancerous. Currently, there are no approved pharmacologic treatments for FAP. Often those with FAP must have their colon removed.
Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals is also studying its CPP-1X/sulindac for use in colon cancer risk reduction. That study is currently in a Phase III trial.
CPP is studying CPP-1X for therapeutic use in gastric cancer. That study is currently in Phase I trials.In addition to its work with FAP, Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals is also working on therapies for neuroblastoma, a form of cancer that starts in certain types of very primitive developing nerve cells found in an embryo or fetus. This type of cancer occurs in infants and young children. It is rarely found in children older than 10. Based on preclinical and early phase studies, CPP’s lead product, CPP-1X, holds promise to treat/prevent tumors associated with neuroblastoma, the company said on its website. The company shows two Phase I clinical trials for neuroblastoma and one Phase II trial
CPP also has therapeutic prevention approaches for prostate cancer, breast cancer and skin cancers.
