Pharma

Oral calcitonin remedy for osteoporosis raises $28M in run-up to its NDA filing

A therapeutics company has raised $28 million in a series B financing round in the […]

A therapeutics company has raised $28 million in a series B financing round in the run-up to submitting its new drug application later this year for its oral calcitonin remedy to treat and cure osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Tarsa Therapeutics’s osteoporosis treatment, Ostora, is designed to be an alternative to the injection and nasal delivery treatments currently on the market. In addition to aiding its NDA submission, expected at the end of the year, the new financing will help the company ready its drug for approval in the European market and pre-commercialization activities. The funding round was led by a new investor, Foresite Capital Management and its CEO, Dr.  James Tananbaum, will join Tarsa‘s board of directors.

Ostora had positive phase 3 clinical trial results last year that tested efficacy and safety and is in the midst of conducting a phase 2 osteoporosis prevention trial.

The drug is a peptide hormone that would be destroyed by the digestive system if taken orally, but the technology behind the drug is intended to prevent that from happening.

The technology is licensed from Unigene. Under the terms of the agreement, Tarsa has exclusive development and worldwide commercialization rights for the oral calcitonin product, except for China. Unigene also has a 16 percent stake in Tarsa.

Tarsa Therapeutics, based in Philadelphia, was formed in 2009 by a syndicate of three venture capital funds specializing in the life sciences to commercialize oral calcitoninMVM Life Science Partners, Quaker BioVentures and Novo A/S, the holding company for the Novo Nordisk Foundation. All three firms participated in the financing round.

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