Tigris Pharmaceuticals Inc., which plans to report data from three trials of its lead product this year, raised $16 million in a Series B financing round to support further development of that compound and the rest of its pipeline.

The company, founded in 2005 and run by former executives from Eli Lilly and Co., raised $11.6 million in its Series A round in September 2005. Edmundo Muniz, CEO of Bonita Springs, Fla.-based Tigris, said the new money should fund the company for three years. By then, all four of its cancer-focused compounds would be expected to be well into clinical development.

"For the moment, the company has a healthy pipeline, and we are not actively searching" for new compounds, Muniz told BioWorld Today. "The focus is to fully leverage the molecules we have. However, we would be open to bringing to the company an exciting end-of-Phase I or Phase II molecule."

Tigris' lead product is A-007, an intravaginal gel for treating cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) resulting from human papillomavirus. The Phase II trial will enroll 250 patients, with results expected in the fourth quarter. Data from a 15-patient Phase I/II trial of the product in anal dysplasia are expected in the third quarter. Data also are expected this year from registration studies in Mexico in patients with high-grade CIN. There is a higher incidence of the condition in Mexico, and Latin America in general, than in the U.S., Muniz said.

Tigris' second product, AFP-464, an aminoflavone prodrug , is in Phase I trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. It licensed the agent from the National Institutes of Health in July. And the company has two small-molecule preclinical agents, GFB-204 and GGTI-2418. Tigris got rights to those agents in licensing deals also reported in July.

Muniz said the Series B financing should take Tigris into U.S. Phase III trials for A-007, assuming positive Phase II results; into Phase II studies with the aminoflavone agent AFP-464; and through Phase I studies with GFB-204 and GGTI-2418, which were licensed from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Yale University and the University of South Florida.

Muniz said "all rounds of financing are intense, especially Series B and C, which are filled with a lot of questions and due diligence." But having the experienced team from Lilly made the process easier for Tigris, he said.

"Molecules come and go; clinical development is a temperamental process," Muniz said. "But what ensures long-term success is people who have been there and know how to develop molecules to their full potential. This team at Tigris was responsible for nine major submissions in oncology from 2003-2005, with all nine having gained approval."

Venture capitalists, Muniz said, "know this is a high-risk, high-reward business, and the only way you can navigate through the challenges of clinical development is to have people who have succeeded in those challenges."

The Series B financing was led by NGN Capital LLC, and included Wexford Capital LLC, Bushido Capital Partners LP and other institutional investors. Riverbank Capital Securities Inc. was placement agent. One representative each from NGN Capital and Wexford Capital will join the Tigris board.

In other financing news:

• The Medicines Co., of Parsippany, N.J., said it plans to sell 6 million shares in an underwritten offering pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement. The offering would raise about $202.5 million, based on Friday's closing price of $33.75. The stock (NASDAQ:MDCO) fell $4.02 Tuesday, or 11.9 percent, to close at $29.73. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are joint book-running managers for the offering. Pacific Growth Equities LLC, RBC Capital Markets and Leerink Swann & Co. Inc. are co-managers. They would have an overallotment option on up to 900,000 additional shares.

• FermaVir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, raised $1.27 million in a private placement. The deal consisted of 1.693 million shares and 10-year warrants to purchase 3.387 million shares at $1 per share. Funds will be used to complete preclinical work and file an investigational new drug application with the FDA for the shingles agent FV-100, an inhibitor of varicella zoster virus.

• MicroIslet Inc., of San Diego, said Chairman John Hagenbuch, is providing the company a $2 million cash loan. The one-year loan carries interest at the prime rate. As part of the deal, Hagenbuch got a 10-year warrant allowing him to purchase up to 500,000 MicroIslet shares at $1 per share.

• SemBioSys Genetics Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, filed a preliminary prospectus in Canada for an offering of common stock. If gross proceeds of the primary offering exceed C$20M (US$17 million), then certain existing shareholders would be able to sell shares in a secondary offering. A syndicate led by Raymond James Ltd. is underwriting the deal.

• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., filed a shelf registration statement to sell, from time to time, up to $30 million of its common stock. The company has no immediate plans for an offering, but said the shelf would provide additional flexibility in accessing capital markets to further support development of its preclinical and clinical pipeline and for general corporate purposes.