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news.US-based pharmaceutical firm ZS Pharma has completed a $55m Series D financing and the investor syndicate was led by Novo A/S, the holding company for the Novo Group, and included new investors RA Capital, Adage Capital, Sofinnova Ventures, and one other top-tier institutional investor.
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The company said that proceeds from the financing will be used to advance development of its lead product candidate ZS-9, for the treatment of hyperkalemia, through its new drug application (NDA) and marketing authorization application (MAA) submissions in early 2015.
Existing investors Alta Partners, Devon Park Bioventures, 3×5 Special Opportunity Fund, Salem Partners and RiverVest were also part of the financing.
The ZS-9 development program is designed to investigate both the acute and extended treatment of hyperkalemia, regardless of underlying cause.
The company has recently completed a 753 patient Phase III trial, which showed that ZS-9 rapidly reduced serum potassium in hyperkalemic patients to normal levels within 48 hours and maintained potassium in the normal range with once-daily dosing.
Additionally, the trial showed that ZS-9 is safe and well-tolerated with an adverse event profile similar to placebo.
In 2014, the company will start two additional studies and also plans to file an NDA with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and an MAA with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in early 2015.
ZS Pharma is also pursuing the discovery of additional drug candidates that use its new selective ion-trap technology for the treatment of kidney and liver diseases.
Image: The $55m financing will be used to advance development of ZS Pharma’s lead product candidate ZS-9. Photo: courtesy of vitasamb2001/ freedigitalphotos.net