Somnus Therapeutics, Inc., a Bedminster, NJ-based pharmaceutical company developing a delayed-release sleep-maintenance therapy, completed a $15m Series A preferred stock financing.
The round was led by CTI Life Sciences Fund, with participation from Care Capital LLC, the company’s seed investor.
Commenting on the financing, Gary C. Cupit, chief executive officer of Somnus, said: “the additional infusion of capital will support our SKP-1041 Phase 2 trial, which we believe is progressing well; we anticipate disclosing Phase 2 clinical data in appropriate peer-reviewed forums in 2011.
SKP-1041 is a new formulation of zaleplon, a non-benzodiazepine hypnotic agent, which is designed to treat people who have difficulty maintaining sleep but not falling asleep by preventing middle-of-the-night awakening while avoiding residual effects. In June 2007, Somnus entered into an exclusive license with SkyePharma PLC’s (LSE:SKP) for the worldwide development and commercialization of SKP-1041. Under the agreement, SkyePharma will formulate and manufacture the product and Somnus will develop and commercialize it.
In conjuction with the financing, Jean-François Leprince of CTI Life Sciences joins the Somnus’ board of directors.
FinSMEs
11/02/2010