A new migraine treatment under development by CoLucid Pharmaceuticals is approaching late-stage clinical trials and the Durham, North Carolina-based company is raising $6.5 million in a bridge round of financing to get it there.
Securities filings show that the company has raised $2 million in the round so far. CoLucid Chairman Art Pappas, who is also managing partner at venture capital firm Pappas Ventures, said the financing is coming from existing investors in the company. Including the bridge round, CoLucid has raised more than $38.5 million from venture capital firms Pappas Ventures, Care Capital, Domain Associates, Pearl Street Venture Funds and Triathlon Medical Ventures.
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Pappas said that CoLucid’s lead compound, a migraine treatment called COL-144, had successful results in phase 2 clinical trials last year and the company is looking ahead to starting a phase 3 trial within the next six months.
Pappas said CoLucid is exploring the possibility of partnering with a large pharmaceutical company on the phase 3 trial. If the company continues to develop the compound on its own, it would need to find a substantial amount of money, which could mean another round of equity financing. But Pappas expects COL-144 could draw big pharma’s attention.
“Pharma has a big appetite for pharmaceutical products, particularly phase 2-, phase 3-ready compounds,” he said.
COL-144 was licensed from Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY). The compound is being studied as a migraine treatment; the company says it can offer relief without the cardiovascular side effects that can come with triptans, a class of drugs that has been used to treat migraines for years. Triptans can constrict blood vessels, which is a risk for patients who have heart problems.
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CoLucid’s pipeline of drug candidates includes compounds aimed at sleep/wake disorders, chronic pain, Alzheimer’s disease and psychiatric disorders. But Pappas said that at the moment, CoLucid’s focus is on COL-144.
