ANN ARBOR – Esperion Therapeutics, which is developing new therapies to treat high cholesterol that can be taken as a pill, announced it has completed a $33 million preferred stock financing led by new investor Longitude Capital.
Existing investors Aisling Capital, Alta Partners, Domain Associates, Arboretum Ventures and Asset Management also participated in the financing. In connection with this financing, Longitude?s Patrick Enright will join Esperion?s board of directors.
?This financing allows us to continue to advance our novel lead product candidate, ETC-1002, for which we have 100 percent worldwide rights, in multiple ongoing and planned Phase 2 clinical trials,? said Tim Mayleben, Esperion?s president and CEO.
Esperion says ETC-1002 lowers low-density cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol. It can be taken by mouth just once a day. It?s the first such therapy to target known lipid and carbohydrate metabolic pathways to lower levels of LDL-C while avoiding many of the side effects for current LDL-C lowering medications, such as statins.
Phase 2a clinical trials of ETC-1002 conducted so far have demonstrated significant average LDL-C reductions ? as high as 43 percent ? and reductions about equal to statins in levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hsCRP, a key marker of inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease.
ETC-1002 has been well tolerated and is not associated with serious side effects, and there have been no serious adverse events in over 230 ETC-1002 treated patients. And its one-pill-a-day administration is a major advantage over other therapies currently in development that, if approved, will require regular injections. Heart surgeons beware.
It is estimated that more than two million U.S. adults have discontinued statin therapy because of muscle pain or weakness. Because symptoms of muscle pain or weakness occur in up to 20 percent of patients on statin therapy in clinical practice, Esperion believes the size of the statin-intolerant market is poised to grow if a novel non-statin therapy becomes available.
?To date, we have used our resources efficiently to get us to this critical stage of development with what I believe is an LDL-C lowering therapy with differentiated non-statin mechanisms,? added Roger Newton, Esperion?s executive chairman and chief scientific officer. ?We intend to use this financing to advance ETC-1002 through the next important phase of development.?
