Cogentus obtains $62.5M for anti-platelet therapy development
Cogentus Pharmaceuticals has completed a private placement financing, raising $62.5 million to support the clinical development of its anti-platelet therapy CGT-2168.
The Series C financing was led by the Keffi Group, with participation from Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures. This represents the third round of equity financing for Cogentus, focused on developing combination medicines that improve upon current treatment options in major therapeutic categories, according to the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus.
Mark A. Goldsmith, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Cogentus, said its team has worked “to advance our lead development candidate, CGT-2168, and to initiate the global phase 3 clinical trial program that will be supported by these funds. Our goal for this program is to benefit patients by providing the next generation of safer antiplatelet medicines.”
Cogentus said it has begun establishing sites and recruiting patients for the first phase 3 clinical trial of its lead compound CGT-2168. A combination medicine pairing clopidogrel (currently marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis as Plavix) with a gastroprotectant (omeprazole) in a single pill, CGT-2168 is designed to significantly reduce the gastrointestinal side effects commonly associated with dual antiplatelet therapy.
The phase 3 clinical trials, known as Clopidogrel and the Optimization of Gastrointestinal Events Trials (COGENT)-1 and COGENT-2, are scheduled to enroll approximately 4,000 patients at hundreds of sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America, according to Cogentus.
The Series C financing was led by the Keffi Group, with participation from Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures. This represents the third round of equity financing for Cogentus, focused on developing combination medicines that improve upon current treatment options in major therapeutic categories, according to the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus.
Mark A. Goldsmith, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Cogentus, said its team has worked “to advance our lead development candidate, CGT-2168, and to initiate the global phase 3 clinical trial program that will be supported by these funds. Our goal for this program is to benefit patients by providing the next generation of safer antiplatelet medicines.”
Cogentus said it has begun establishing sites and recruiting patients for the first phase 3 clinical trial of its lead compound CGT-2168. A combination medicine pairing clopidogrel (currently marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis as Plavix) with a gastroprotectant (omeprazole) in a single pill, CGT-2168 is designed to significantly reduce the gastrointestinal side effects commonly associated with dual antiplatelet therapy.
The phase 3 clinical trials, known as Clopidogrel and the Optimization of Gastrointestinal Events Trials (COGENT)-1 and COGENT-2, are scheduled to enroll approximately 4,000 patients at hundreds of sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America, according to Cogentus.