Lpath Inc. closed the second tranche of an April private placement, for a total financing of $16.8 million to push its lead compound, the anti-angiogenic compound Sphingomab, into the clinic.

The San Diego-based firm closed the first tranche of shares of Class A stock priced at 95 cents each on April 6, for proceeds of about $13.9 million. The same investors agreed to the second tranche under the same terms, to add $2.9 million, upon the satisfaction of certain conditions, such as gaining shareholder approval to increase both Lpath's Class A common stock and the shares reserved for the company's stock option plan. The company, which was in a quiet period, stated in a press release that proceeds will be used to move Sphingomab into clinical trials and fund further development of other pipeline programs.

Shares of Lpath (OTC BB:LPTN) closed at $1.75 Friday, down 5 cents.

The company, which is developing lipidomic-based therapeutics, is investigating Sphingomab, a monoclonal antibody that targets the bioactive lipid sphingosine-1-phosphate. It appears to have an anti-angiogenic mechanism of action, like South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc.'s blockbuster Averting (bevacizumab), but Lpath believes that additional mechanisms might make Sphingomab a more advantageous treatment. In preclinical studies, it has demonstrated potential against cancer, showing tumor reduction in animal models of breast and ovarian cancers. Safety and efficacy studies are expected to begin next year.

The compound also has yielded preclinical evidence as a treatment in other diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and heart failure. Most recently, Lpath presented proof-of-concept data from an animal model showing that Sphingomab almost completely mitigated the choroidal neovascularization formation in mice with laser-induced choroidal damage designed to mimic the pathologic neovascularization seen in wet AMD patients. Clinical trials in wet AMD are set to start in 2008.

Sphingomab emerged from Lpath's ImmuneY technology designed to generate antibodies against bioactive lipids. That technology has produced a second candidate, Lpathomab, which targets lysophosphatidic acid, a promoter of cancer cell growth and metastasis, and Lpath plans to generate a full pipeline of antibodies using the ImmuneY process.

Investors in the financing included Lehman Brothers, William Harris Investors, Roaring Fork Capital SBIC LP and Peierls Foundation Inc., along with company executives, other key employees and affiliates.

Other financings news:

• Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., has postponed its initial public offering, but the company maintained that the delay should have no impact on ongoing clinical programs. In its SEC filing, Aegerion cited market conditions as the reason for withdrawing the planned IPO, which it filed in March. Late last month, the specialty pharmaceutical company set its proposed rate at $12 to $14 per share, which would have raised gross proceeds of $65 million at the midrange price. Aegerion focused on the development and commercialization of drugs for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, with its most advanced products, MTP inhibitors, in Phase II studies in hyperlipidemia. (See BioWorld Today, March 22, 2007.)

• Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corp., of San Diego, received conditional approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to extend the expiry date of the common share purchase warrants issued in the company's 2005 private placement financing on Nov. 1, 2005, and Dec. 13, 2005, to Nov. 1, 2010. The exercise price of the warrants remains unchanged at 50 cents. The total warrants affected by this extension is 3.1 million out of 66.6 million outstanding.

• Profectus BioSciences Inc., of Baltimore, completed an additional $3 million private note and warrant placement to investors led by Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and Stewart Greenebaum. Under the terms, Profectus received $1.5 million immediately and can draw the remaining amounts at its option no later than Sept. 30, 2007. The company, which develops preventative and therapeutic technologies designed to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by viral diseases, expects to use the proceeds to advance work on immune modulation technologies to enhance clinical efficacy of existing drugs and formulate new viral entry inhibitors. Funds also will be used to investigate other enabling technologies that support the production of antiviral vaccines and therapeutics, and to negotiate and generate revenue from various licensing agreements.