The management team that founded, financed and promptly sold Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. is at it again.

Just four months after selling their company to Pharmion Corp. for $59 million up front, the ex-Cabrellis executives have moved on to Tragara Pharmaceuticals Inc. The new San Diego-based company will use its $40 million Series A financing to advance a small molecule known as TG01 against inflammation and cancer.

Thomas Estok, Tragara president and chief executive officer, declined to identify a lead investor for the round, noting that all of the investors made "significant" contributions. The syndicate included Domain Associates LLC, ProQuest Investments, Morgenthaler Ventures, Oxford Bioscience Partners and Mitsubishi International Corp.

Domain partner Eckard Weber founded the company in 2005 and financed it through bridge loans and convertible notes until the current round. The name hails from one of Weber's favorite streets on the Isle of Capri.

The company's sole asset at this point is TG01, which Estok said was licensed from "a major pharmaceutical company." The drug is an orally available small molecule with a "complex" mechanism of action, he added.

In inflammation and pain, TG01 is thought to affect many pathways such as the tumor necrosis family, neutrophil contents, the CXCR family and cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-10. In preclinical models, Estok said the drug outperformed "current standards of care that exert a mechanism through similar pathways," but declined to provide specifics. Tragara also said the drug demonstrated superior efficacy to both placebo and undisclosed active comparators in a Phase IIa trial, the results of which will be published in nine months to a year.

Tragara expects to advance its inflammation program, dubbed TP1001, into Phase IIb trials in late 2007 or early 2008.

In cancer, TG01 is pro-apoptotic, working through a variety of known pathways such as VEGF, PDGF and HER2/neu, among others. "It affects all of them, and it may affect them different ways in different tumors," Estok said, adding that no single mechanism appears to be dominant.

As in inflammation, Tragara said its drug beat competitors in preclinical cancer models, demonstrating tumor inhibition and synergy with cisplatin. The company plans to start a Phase I trial for the cancer program, known as TP2001, in the third quarter and will focus on solid tumors including lung and breast cancers.

While running its clinical programs, Tragara also will conduct preclinical studies to "characterize the leading mechanism of action" of TG01, Estok said. He cited pending patents as the reason for not yet providing too many details about the drug.

Whatever its mechanism, TG01 will need strong differentiation to compete in the inflammation and cancer markets. Drugs targeting many of its possible pathways already are approved, from the TNF inhibitors like Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc.) to VEGF inhibitors like Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech Inc.).

Yet newer drugs that target multiple established pathways are generating interest. Multi-kinase inhibitors are flooding clinical trials, with some already approved. Sutent (sunitinib, Pfizer Inc.) targets both VEGF and PDGF, and Nexavar (sorafenib, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp.) inhibits RAF kinase, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, PDGFR-B, KIT and FLT-3.

Beyond kinases, Callisto Pharmaceuticals Inc. is conducting clinical trials with an oral, small-molecule cancer drug, Atiprimod, which has been shown to be antiangiogenic, inhibit secretion of VEGF and IL-6, elicit an apoptotic response and inhibit phosphorylation of kinases including Akt and STAT3. And in the pain space, Avigen Inc. is conducting clinical trials with an oral, small-molecule drug that affects IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-10.

Tragara plans to use its Series A financing to generate Phase II data in both TG01 programs. Helping Estok meet that goal are several other ex-Cabrellis colleagues: Tracy Lawhon, vice president of regulatory affairs and development operations; Christopher LeMasters, chief business officer; and Sara Zaknoen, chief medical officer.

In addition to focusing on TG01, Estok said Tragara is "actively evaluating licensing opportunities," with a particular interest in clinical-stage oncology products.

In other financing news:

• Genta Inc., of Berkeley Heights, N.J., fell 21.2 percent, or 10 cents, on Wednesday to close at 37 cents after announcing plans to raise $11 million through the sale of 30 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:GNTA). Rodman & Renshaw LLC served as the placement agent for the offering, which is expected to close on or about March 16, 2007. Genta markets Ganite (gallium nitrate injection) in the U.S. for symptomatic patients with cancer-related hypercalcemia that is resistant to hydration and is conducting clinical trials and awaiting an EMEA decision on antisense cancer drug Genasense (oblimersen sodium) after several setbacks in the U.S.