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Merrimack Pipeline Gets $60M Series F Boost(BioWorld Today Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Financings Roundup Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $60 million in a Series F private equity financing to help move along its midstage pipeline featuring MM-093, a recombinant version of human alpha-fetoprotein. Existing and new investors participated in the financing including Credit Suisse First Boston Next Fund Inc.; Crocker Ventures; HNI Holdings Ltd., with funds advised by Noonday Asset Management LP; TPG-Axon Capital; and WT Investment Advisors Fund LP. In March, the Cambridge, Mass.-based company announced it had completed enrollment in a Phase II study of MM-093 in rheumatoid arthritis. The objective is to examine safety and efficacy in patients with moderate to severe active RA despite treatment with stable doses of methotrexate. Each patient will receive 60 mg of MM-093 per week or placebo for 12 weeks and then will be followed for four weeks. Patients also will be assessed for changes in disease signs and symptoms. Patients who complete the study are eligible for an ongoing open-label extension study. Results are expected later this year. Merrimack also is conducting a pilot study of MM-093 in patients with autoimmune uveitis, and those results are expected later this year. The compound also is being tested in a Phase II trial for psoriasis and a Phase I trial in multiple sclerosis. The company also has three preclinical compounds in solid tumors and said it plans to file an investigational new drug application in 2009. In other financing news: ? Genta Inc., of Berkeley Heights, N.J., completed a previously announced financing by issuing $20 million of senior secured convertible notes due 2010. n ? ? Copyright ? 2000 Thomson BioWorld, All Rights Reserved. |