Serina Therapeutics, Inc., a Huntsville, Ala.-based pharmaceutical company that is advancing novel therapeutics for cancer, inflammation, pain and metabolic disorders using its proprietary polymer technology, has closed a $9.5m financing round.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead oncology candidate SER-203 into a Phase I study in humans in early 2012 and continue to build its pipeline of novel polymer therapeutics.
Led by President and CEO Randall Moreadith, MD, PhD, Serina develops polyoxazoline (POZ) polymers, which can be coupled to known drugs to alter pharmacokinetics and convert molecules that normally have short duration times in the body into molecules with prolonged activity – sometimes as long as weeks.
In addition, the company has developed technology that allows the resulting polymer drug to be specifically targeted to receptors on the surface of cancer cells, resulting in an approach that can be useful for applications outside oncology.
The founders and managers of Serina were formerly the key principals of Shearwater Polymers, which enabled nine approved polyethylene glycol (PEG) products for various pharmaceutical partners.
The company is headquartered at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville.
FinSMEs
01/06/2011