Triangle Business Journal - by Frank Vinluan -- Startup drug development company Neuronex has raised $1.5 million in a series A round of funding, the Morrisville-based company announced Wednesday.
Neuronex is led by management team of Durham company Addrenex Pharmaceuticals, which was sold to Sciele Pharma last year for $29 million.
Moise A. Khayrallah, one of the co-founders and former CEO of Addrenex, is reprising those roles with Neuronex.v Another former Addrenex exec, Stephen Butts, is Neuronex’s executive vice president of commercial operations. He says Neuronex will focus on developing products for the central nervous system. Neuronex has licensed one compound for epilepsy that is expected to go into clinical trials later this month. Butts said the company is also in talks with several other entities about licensing additional compounds.
The investors in Neuronex are the same angel investors who backed Addrenex. The company also has received a $250,000 small business research loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Butts said Neuronex could be in a position to seek additional capital in the second half of next year, depending on how the company’s portfolio develops.
Neuronex currently employs five.
