Staff Writer

Philadelphia-based Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc. has completed the first closing of a $34.5 million Series D financing that will fund studies of its molecular imaging products for patients who may be at risk for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Avid's imaging agents are not intended for therapeutic use, though they still would need to go through the FDA drug review process. The company's products are not considered to be diagnostics, either.

Their products, 18F-AV-45 for detecting levels of toxic amyloid in the brain and 18F-AV-133 for Parkinson's disease imaging, are biomarkers that can offer clues about disease progression and help physicians decide how to treat a patient.

The company has three molecular imaging agents in development, including a Phase I program in diabetes. The Phase III amyloid imaging agent is furthest along in development and is the focus of much of the company's resources. Avid now has the funding to take that product through the Phase III trial and beyond, and possibly market it on its own, if approved.

Avid founder and CEO Daniel Skovronsky, however, did not rule out the possibility of a marketing partner for the amyloid imaging agent, if all goes well with the trials and the FDA review.

Avid's Phase II imaging agent is a marker of dopaminergic synapse density, which is affected in diseases such as Parkinson's and dementia with Lewy bodies. That product is about to start Phase IIb testing and also will benefit from the Series D funds.

Currently, Alzheimer's disease is detected in the brain by conducting an autopsy or it can be diagnosed when certain symptoms such as memory loss develop.

"Right now, the diagnosis is late in the disease course and is sometimes inaccurate," said Skovronsky, a former neuropathologist. But Avid's imaging agents could help physicians better determine which patients may be developing signs of the disease.

Avid's imaging compound, a dye that lights up, is injected into the patient and crosses the brain barrier where the dye binds to amyloid. A scanner can provide an image of the amyloid buildup within 10 minutes.

18F-AV-45 was the first amyloid imaging compound to enter multicenter, investigational new drug-approved, clinical studies in the U.S., and has been studied in more than 350 individuals, ranging from cognitively normal people to those with Alzheimer's disease.

It entered a pivotal registration study using a unique trial design that was based on recommendations by the FDA neurology advisory committee in October 2008.

Eli Lilly and Co. and Pfizer Inc. and are putting Avid's imaging agents to use in clinical trials of Alzheimer's patients to detect the level of toxic amyloid plaques in the brain before and after treatment with investigational drugs.

Use of biomarkers in drug development is what the FDA envisioned in its Critical Path Initiative, aimed at detecting disease much earlier and matching the right patient with the right treatment through the use of cutting-edge techniques such as biomarkers. That initiative also allows for the testing of two experimental agents in a single trial, such as the use of Avid's agent in the Pfizer and Lilly drug trials.

The company has raised about $70 million to date.

Prior to the $34.5 million Series D financing, Avid raised $26 million in a Series C financing in 2007 and $8.9 million in 2006 in its first institutional financing round. The company also was among six teams to receive a $1.9 million in development funds from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

The Series D financing was led by new investor Alta Partners, a venture capital firm. Also participating in the financing were existing investors AllianceBernstein, Safeguard Scientifics, Pfizer Venture Investments, Lilly Ventures, RK Ventures Group LLC and BioAdvance.

In other financing news,

• AdventRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, has filed a $25 million shelf registration. As of May 20, the aggregate market value of the company's outstanding common stock held by nonaffiliates was about $10,689,066, based on 90,252,572 shares of outstanding common stock, of which 8,656,648 shares are held by affiliates, and a price of $0.1310 per share, which was the last reported sale price of its common stock on the NYSE Amex on May 20.

• Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., announced the pricing of its concurrent public offerings of 5 million shares of common stock, at a price of $60 per share, and $435 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.5 percent convertible senior subordinated notes due 2014. Cephalon also granted the underwriters a 30-day option, solely to cover overallotments, to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock, and to purchase up to an additional $65 million in aggregate principal amount of the notes. The aggregate net proceeds from the sale of shares of common stock, and the notes are expected to be approximately $709.5 million. Cephalon intends to use a portion of the net proceeds of the notes offering in connection with its entry into a convertible note hedge transaction on its common stock with Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, an affiliate of the representative of the underwriters.

• Kamada Ltd., of Ness Ziona, Israel, said that Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc. has exercised an option to participate in an exchange of $500,000 debt for common stock and warrants. Kamada also announced that it has completed the private allocation of common stock and warrants to a small group of new investors, resulting in gross proceeds to Kamada of about $1.6 million. That concludes a series of financings that commenced Feb. 23. Since February, the company has raised about $20 million to advance its pipeline.

• PolyMedix Inc., of Radnor, Pa., has entered into an agreement with Dutchess Equity Fund LP for up to $10 million of financing through an equity line facility. Under the terms, Dutchess will purchase the stock over three years. While the per-share price will be determined based on market prices, the company will set its minimum acceptable per share price for each draw, and a maximum of 12 million shares may be issued under the facility. Separately, PolyMedix said it received a notice of no objection from Health Canada for its clinical trial application on its defensin mimetic antibiotic compound, PMX-30063. That allows the start of the second human clinical study in Canada.

• Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Schaumburg, Ill., has raised $30 million in a second Series A financing extension with pre-existing and new strategic investors. The round was again led by Vivo Ventures. The capital will be used to support upcoming product launches, development activities and strategic business objectives.

• SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Foster City, Calif., has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to periodically sell up to $50 million of securities, with the amount that SciClone expects to be able to offer in the next 12 month period limited to about $21.8 million.