Israeli drug development company PolyPid Ltd. today announced the closing of a $50 million Series E-1 preferred shares financing round. The financing was led by existing institutional shareholders and included US-based high-net worth investors. National Securities Corporation acted as the placement agent for the financing.
The Petah Tikva based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which is focused on developing and commercializing novel, locally administered therapies, plans to use the proceeds to advance the clinical development of its lead product D-PLEX into two phase III pivotal registration trials.
PolyPid had sought to raise $75 million on Nasdaq last year at a company valuation of $370 million but pulled the IPO "because of adverse market conditions." In November 2018, PolyPid raised $15 million at a company valuation of just $180 million.
PolyPid's lead drug product candidate, D-PLEX, is a novel pharmaceutical agent designed to provide local and prolonged anti-bacterial activity to prevent surgical site infections. Following the administration of D-PLEX into the surgical site, D-PLEX technology enables the constant and prolonged release of a broad-spectrum antibiotic, generating high local concentrations for up to four weeks. Through this mechanism, D-PLEX has demonstrated the ability to effectively prevent surgical site infection including those caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. D-PLEX has received Fast Track status and two Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designations from the FDA for the prevention of sternal wound infection post cardiac surgery and for the prevention of post-abdominal surgery incisional infection.
PolyPid CEO Amir Weisberg said, "We are delighted to welcome this new syndicate of US-based investors, who share our passion, commitment, and vision for bringing D-PLEX to patients undergoing surgery worldwide. With this financing in place, we are well positioned to advance D-PLEX further towards commercialization and continue to develop the rest of our pipeline of locally administered therapies."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 4, 2019
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