Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. is raising $36 million in a private placement to fund its ongoing Phase II programs in Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

The San Diego-based company will issue 5.3 million shares of common stock at a price of $6.82 per share, along with warrants to purchase an additional 1.3 million shares at $8.15 per share to new and existing investors. The financing is expected to close April 20.

"We're extremely pleased by the high quality of institutional investors who participated in this financing," said Tom Aasen, vice president and chief financial officer for Acadia, who said a major portion of the proceeds will fund the Phase II programs in lead drug candidates ACP-103 and ACP-104, and also "lay the foundation for the late-stage development of these drug candidates."

Acadia is developing ACP-103, a selective 5-HT2A inverse agonist, in treatment-inducted dysfunction in Parkinson's patients. Initial trends from the ongoing trial are expected around the middle of the year, with results from the complete study available later this year or early 2006.

ACP-103 also is in development as an adjunctive therapy to treat schizophrenia by reducing the side effects stemming from the use of existing anti-psychotic drugs. The company anticipates reporting results from a Phase II trial evaluating ACP-103 in treatment-induced akathisia in schizophrenic patients during the second half of the year.

"And this quarter, we expect to initiate a large Phase II adjunctive trial with ACP-103 to explore its use with two different drugs - respiradone and haloperidol," Aasen told BioWorld Today.

The company also expects results from its Phase II study of ACP-104 as a stand-alone treatment for schizophrenia during the second half of 2005. ACP-104 is a metabolite of clozapine N-desmethylclozapine, and is designed to improve cognition by stimulating m1 muscarinic receptors in the brain.

In addition to the Phase II programs, Acadia said it also would use proceeds to advance other programs.

Acadia is developing a small-molecule drug candidate for neuropathic pain as part of an ongoing collaboration with Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif. The product recently entered Phase I development. The companies also are focused on products in the areas of glaucoma and ophthalmology. Acadia is entitled to milestone and royalty payments in the deal.

At the end of 2004, Acadia reported cash, cash equivalents and investment securities totaling $35.9 million, not including a $10 million equity investment from a collaboration agreement with Marlborough, Mass.-based Sepracor Inc.

"Those cash resources are expected to fund our activities through 2006," Aasen said. "So this current financing adds considerably to that cash runway."

The partnership with Sepracor includes a three-year research and development term, during which the companies will develop drug candidates using Acadia's discovery platform to treat central nervous system disorders. The focus will be on two discovery areas: One will entail using Acadia's muscarinic platform and the second will include developing a compound to work in combination with Sepracor's insomnia drug, Lunesta. Acadia stands to receive a second $10 million equity investment from Sepracor in January 2006, and could receive up to $25 million in aggregate payments. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 12, 2005.)

Shares of Acadia (NASDAQ:ACAD) gained 2 cents Friday to close at $6.92. After the financing, the company will have about 23.5 million shares outstanding.