$48 million funding boost for chronic pain treatment

Australian biotech company Spinifex Pharmaceuticals has attracted $48 million in funding to advance its drug for chronic pain, EMA401. The deal represents one of Australia’s largest off-market investments in a private biotechnology company.

Founded in 2005 by The University of Queensland’s commercialisation company UniQuest, Spinifex has attracted Series C financing from a syndicate of investors, including Danish venture capital firm Novo A/S and US-based investors Canaan Partners. Existing investors GBS Venture Partners, Brandon Capital Partners, Uniseed and UniQuest also participated in the investment round.

“To have attracted significant funding from two of the best-respected investors in global biotechnology is testament to the quality of the science behind Spinifex and our development work on EMA401 supported by our long-term investors,” said Spinifex CEO Tom McCarthy.

The funds will be used to progress clinical trials of EMA401 as an oral treatment for neuropathic and inflammatory pain, without central nervous system side effects. These types of pain are most commonly associated with cancer chemotherapy, postherpetic neuralgia (a condition that develops in some patients following shingles), diabetes, peripheral nerve injury and osteoarthritis.

In February this year, medical journal The Lancet published the results of a phase 2 trial of EMA401 in postherpetic neuralgia. The trial met its primary endpoint by showing that patients randomised to EMA401 achieved a greater reduction in pain from baseline to the last week of 28 days of treatment than patients randomised to placebo.

“We look forward to rapidly advancing our clinical program and ultimately to bringing a much-needed treatment option to patients with chronic pain,” said McCarthy