BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - Trigen Holdings AG raised £18.2 million (US$31.8 million) in its second private round to fund a Phase III trial of the lead product TGN255, an intravenous thrombin inhibitor and complete reformulation of TGN167, an oral version.

Sanjay Kakkar, CEO, told BioWorld International: "This is over the amount we set out for. There was more interest than we expected and so we increased the size to meet demand."

Kakkar embarked on the round in April, following the creation of the company through the merger of Trigen Holdings plc, of London, and ProCorde GmbH, of Munich, Germany.

"I am pleased about the round in general," he said. "It's not just that we got over the target amount, but also that we have got the right sort of mix of shareholders, ranging from specialist venture capitalists to [funds representing] corporate investors like GlaxoSmithKline and Quintiles."

Wellington Partners, also of Munich; HealthCap, of Stockholm, Sweden; and 3i plc, of London; co-led the round. Other investors included SR One, the venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline; Quintiles PharmaBio Development; Quest for Growth, of Leuven, Belgium; BIT, of London; and Merefin, of Brussels, Belgium.

The design for the Phase III trial of TGN255, for anticoagulation during hemodialysis, is yet to be finalized, but Kakkar said he is confident it will go ahead next year. In the Phase II trial, TGN255 was well tolerated in all 25 patients over three dialysis sessions. The small-molecule drug provided effective and convenient anticoagulant cover, with a high level of control and no increase in bleeding risk, Trigen said.

The second product, TGN167, is a competitor for warfarin, the only oral anti-coagulant available for the long-term treatment of thrombosis. Trigen said its product will overcome drawbacks with warfarin, including a tendency to interact with other drugs and a high degree of variability in efficacy both between patients and in the same patient over time.

In the Phase I trial, TGN167 was well tolerated at all doses and increased the thrombin clotting time with minimal effects on activated partial thromboplastin time.

The project to reformulate TGN167 began earlier this year, with the objective of producing a controlled-release tablet.

"We have got good overall bioavailability already and shown this drug is absorbed along the intestine. The aim is to have a twice-per-day dosing regimen," Kakkar said.

Trigen has a third product, PR-15, an anti-platelet agent that it plans to take into Phase I trials. The company said the product has the potential to treat arterial thrombosis occurring during acute coronary syndromes, without the bleeding risk associated with existing drugs.

Trigen was set up in 1992 to commercialize research from the Thrombosis Research Institute in London. For its first 10 years, it operated as a virtual company, with funding from a private investor. In January 2002 it raised £7.1 million in its first round of funding.