BOSTON, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has closed the second and final tranche of a $40 million private financing. As previously announced, Aisling Capital led the financing, with additional participation by new investors, the D.E. Shaw group and Boston Life Science Venture Corporation, and prior investors, Nomura Phase4 Ventures, Novartis BioVentures, BioFund Ventures, HBM BioVentures, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, BioVeda Fund and Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Pacific Growth Equities served as placement agent for the financing.
Funding from the financing will allow for the initiation of Phase 3 studies of Paratek’s most advanced broad-spectrum antibiotic, PTK 0796, which is being developed to treat serious, often life-threatening infections that require a hospital visit such as complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) and moderate to severe community-acquired pneumonias (CAP), including those caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria. The Company recently completed a Phase 2 clinical study of oral and intravenous (IV) forms of PTK 0796 in comparison to Zyvox® in patients with cSSSI.
The financing will also help Paratek continue developing additional products in its pipeline. Thomas J. Bigger, President and CEO of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, stated, “The second tranche of the financing was triggered by the successful completion and positive results of the Phase 2 clinical trials of oral and IV PTK 0796. The financing will be critical in advancing this program into Phase 3, which we expect to initiate later this year. We hope to announce the Phase 2 data at the appropriate peer-reviewed forum later this year.”
About Paratek Pharmaceuticals
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the discovery and commercialization of new therapeutics that treat serious and life-threatening diseases, with a particular focus on the growing worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance. Paratek is advancing novel compounds that can circumvent or block bacterial resistance. Paratek’s lead compound, PTK 0796, is a broad spectrum antibiotic derived from the tetracycline class with oral and IV formulations that is being developed for the treatment of the most common serious hospital bacterial infections, including those caused by resistant strains such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and MDRSP (multi-drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae). Oral and IV formulations of PTK 0796 were compared to Zyvox® in a recently completed Phase 2 clinical study in complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). In addition to PTK 0796, Paratek is also developing other broad- and narrow-spectrum tetracycline antibiotics to treat hospital and community infections based on its novel tetracycline chemistry expertise.
Outside of its tetracycline program, Paratek has also identified small molecules that inhibit bacteria-specific proteins called Multiple Adaptational Response (MAR) proteins that control bacterial infectivity and resistance development. MAR inhibitors would be used to prevent life-threatening and debilitating infections such as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) and to enhance the activity of antibiotics against resistant bacteria, and since they do not directly attack bacteria, they would be less likely to engender resistance development.
Based upon a growing body of clinical research and as part of its effort to exploit its novel tetracycline derivatives and their unique mechanism of action in selected inflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions, Paratek has an active chemical synthesis effort to produce novel and diverse small molecules, with the goal of developing non-antibacterial compounds with improved activity in serious inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Paratek’s most advanced projects in this area are its multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and ischemic stroke programs.
Paratek has active collaborations with Merck & Co., MerckSerono, Warner-Chilcott and FSMA to develop orally available small molecule drugs for bacterial infections, multiple sclerosis, acne & rosacea, and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), respectively. Paratek is privately held and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For more information about Paratek and its research and development initiatives, visit Paratek’s website at http://www.paratekpharm.com/.
Source: Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
