BIPAR SCIENCES ACCELERATES CLINICAL PROGRAM WITH NEW FINANCING
-- Updates Clinical Development Progress at Pacific Growth Equities Life Sciences Conference Today --
BRISBANE, Calif., June 14, 2006 -- BiPar Sciences, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on novel therapeutics for cancer, announced today it has secured a $5 million venture debt commitment from Lighthouse Capital Partners. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate and expand the clinical program for its lead compound, BSI-201, and move two additional compounds toward clinical development.
“The additional funding will allow us to expand clinical development ahead of plan on our promising lead compound, BSI-201, while continuing to push our second clinical candidate toward its investigational new drug (IND) application with the Food and Drug Administration,” said Thomas F. White, BiPar’s president and chief executive officer. “Not only will we move ahead with our rigorous clinical development plan for BSI-201, but the funding allows BiPar to move a third promising candidate forward from our pipeline.”
It took BiPar just over 12 months following its series A funding to move BSI-201, a potential best in class compound in a new class of cancer therapies known as PARP (poly-ADP-ribose polymerase) inhibitors that selectively induces tumor cell death, into Phase 1 clinical trials as a single agent for the treatment of solid tumor cancers. BSI-201 is a targeted cancer therapy applicable across multiple patient populations based on preclinical data. Phase 1B trials are planned for later this year to evaluate BSI-201 in combination with other agents.
The BSI-201 clinical research began in the first quarter of 2006 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio and is designed to confirm safety of the drug in patients and establish a maximum tolerated dose and pharmacokinetic profile. Data on activity also will be collected.
The Company also plans to bring additional product candidates into the clinic in 2007. BSI is in active development of a second clinical candidate, from the company’s iodothyronine program, which has shown promise in inhibiting tumor cell growth. BiPar has also recently identified a third promising drug candidate from its pipeline. That compound, a PARP inhibitor dubbed BSI-401 that has a mechanism of action different from BSI-201, had not been identified prior to the company’s initial round of funding. BSI-401 appears to be especially potent in preclinical studies in a subset of cancers with few effective therapies available.
About BiPar Sciences
BiPar Sciences Inc. (www.biparsciences.com) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing a novel class of tumor-selective drugs designed to meet the significant unmet needs of cancer patients. The Company’s lead product candidate is BSI-201, which is now in early-stage clinical testing for advanced malignancies. The Company will be evaluating the potential of BSI-201 in multiple cancers, and is developing additional cancer drug candidates, all of which were discovered by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.
About Lighthouse Capital Partners
Lighthouse Capital Partners is a leading venture debt firm with investing offices in Menlo Park, Calif. and Cambridge, Mass. Lighthouse invests capital in the form of secured loans to early- and expansion-stage technology and life science companies that have received equity financing from top-tier venture capital firms. The Lighthouse investment team consists of seasoned professionals with a wide breadth of operating and financial experience.