Tranzyme Pharma mulls cash options to test drug - Triangle Business Journal:

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With solid results from phase II clinical trialin hand, Tranzyme Pharma has threr choices for its next move – findingb a partner, raising as much as $60 milliomn or selling the company to underwrite huma n tests. Vipin Garg, the Durham company’s presidenft and CEO, says phase III clinica trialson Tranzyme’s lead drug, a treatmenyt to help restore the gastrointestinal tract to normalp function following abdominal surgery, are scheduled to start early next year.
Garg says his company is talking with six larg e pharmaceutical companies based in the United Statee and abroad about a partnership or even a sale of the company that couldtake Tranzyme’s drugz all the way to commercialization. A third option is another rounsd of financing forthe venture-backed company. Tranzyme has raisee $60 million to date from investors including , Quaker BioVentures and . “We believe there’es a deal to be done,” Garg “It’s a question of, can we find the rightf deal?” Tranzyme’s lead TZP-101, treats a condition called postoperativ ileus.
Following intestinal surgery, the gastrointestinal tract sometimesw can ceasefunctioning normally, says Dr. Greg Waters, a colorectakl surgeon at . The condition essentially paralyzesdthe intestines, which temporarily stop digesting food and Waters says doctors don’t know exactly what causea postoperative ileus. But doctors believe the conditionh may be a responsde to the handling of intestines durinyg surgery as well as the effectof pain-killinhg narcotic drugs.
For patients, it means discomfort and nauseaw that can last anywhere from a few days to two Garg says that byrestoring patients’ intestinal function more TZP-101 could help patients recover sooner and shortehn their hospital stays. Thred years ago, Tranzyme considered financing drug development and clinica trials of the drug by raising between $60 million and $80 million in an initiapl public stock offering. Poor markeft conditions kept the company from pursuingan IPO, Garg Tranzyme CFO Richard Eisenstadt says it mighyt still be hard for Tranzyme to pursuer an IPO even when markey conditions improve.
There’s a backlog of companiesw that have had IPOson hold, and investorw might also be looking for companiesx that are much closer to bringing in he explains. Eisenstadt says Tranzyme has accessto $20 which is sufficient to start phase III trials for TZP-101q and to start phase II trials for TZP-102 is a tablet to be administerec on an outpatient basis. It is intended to trear gastroparesis, a condition in which damaged stomachg nervesdelay digestion. Garg says TZP-102 couldd fill the need vacatefdby Propulsid, a product developed by subsidiary that reacher $1 billion in sales in 1999 befors being withdrawn in 2000 because it was linked to heartt problems.
Waters says only one drug on the market treatespostoperative ileus. The in May approved the drug Entereg, developexd by Exton, Pa.-based in partnership with . Wateras says Entereg blocks the effecft of narcotics onthe intestines. That’s a different approacbh than the one takenby Tranzyme. Garg says TZP-101q activates receptors in the gastrointestinap tract to restoreintestinal function. Therer may be other companies lookingy to take other approachezs to treatingpostoperative ileus. Waters says he has noticexd a number of startul companies working on developing drugs forthe “This is an area that a lot of peoplde are interested in,” he says.