In its first major financing round, Thiakis Ltd. added £10 million (US$19 million) in a Series A to advance work on its obesity drug.

The investment syndicate was led by Novo A/S, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, and Advent Venture Partners, of London, and also included existing shareholder London-based Imperial Innovations Ltd., the technology commercialization arm of Imperial College London. Thiakis was spun out of Imperial in June 2004, and was granted an exclusive license to intellectual property relating to gut hormones oxyntomodulin and PYY3-36 for obesity.

"We're still conducting our research through the college," said CEO John Burt, who established the company, along with Steve Bloom, a professor at the Imperial College's Division of Investigative Science.

With the recent funding, however, "we'll be looking to expand our team," Burt said, and money should take the company "through Phase II," with its obesity program.

London-based Thiakis had raised about £100,000 prior to the Series A. Its initial funding stemmed from a September 2004 deal with Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. Inc., which sub-licensed rights to PYY3-36 to develop intranasal therapeutics for obesity, diabetes and other metabolic conditions. In exchange, Bothell, Wash.-based Nastech agreed to make an equity investment in Thiakis, plus license fees, milestone payments and royalties on any products.

Though PYY3-36 has stumbled for Nastech - failure in a proof-of-concept study of the nasal spray in obesity earlier this year lost its potential $346 million partnership with Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. Inc. - the company said it planned to proceed with dose-optimization studies and continue development through a Phase II program before seeking a new collaborator.

PYY is a naturally occurring gut hormone produced by specialized endocrine cells in proportion to caloric intake, and research has pointed to potential activity in regulating appetite control.

Thiakis retained rights to oxyntomodulin, which also is a hormone that has been shown to regulate appetite between meals. A 28-day study conducted by Bloom at the Imperial College, which involved healthy, overweight volunteers who would subcutaneously self-administer either saline or oxyntomodulin three times daily for four weeks, showed that body weight dropped by 2.3 kg in the oxyntomodulin group compared to 0.5 kg in the control group.

A further study demonstrated that oxyntomodulin can boost activity-related energy expenditure by 26 percent.

Burt said those promising data "are what gave our investors confidence" to participate in Thiakis' Series A.

From those early studies, Bloom and other researchers developed analogues of oxyntomodulin, which are designed to be "more potent, with a longer duration of action," he added.

Thiakis is conducting preclinical work, and anticipates starting Phase I studies within the next 18 months. Once the company has Phase II data in hand, it plans to seek a partner for late-stage development and commercialization.

The Series A round also included investments by The Royal Society, of London; Esperante, of the Netherlands; Consensus Business Group and NPI Ventures, both of London.

Martin Edwards, of Novo, and Raj Parekh, of Advent Venture, joined Thiakis' board. Thiakis also named Mike Hayes, chairman of Cambridge, UK-based Biotica Technology Ltd., as an independent nonexecutive director.