Closely-held Appili Therapeutics raised $3,062,000 in a private placement, bringing the total equity raised since its seed round in March 2016 to $7.5-million.
The private placement includes investments from new and current investors including, Innovacorp, Nova Scotia’s early-stage venture capital organization.
Proceeds will be used to advance Appili’s pipeline of anti-infectives and move its lead antibiotic, ATI-1501, a taste-masked treatment for anaerobic infections, into the clinic.
“There is a robust market opportunity for antibiotics that really bring value and the successful closing of this financing round reflects that,” Kimberly Stephens, CFO of Appili, said in a statement.
Appili CEO, Kevin Sullivan, said “we appreciate the confidence investors have in our strategy to build a balanced-risk pipeline of products designed to treat the most serious and drug-resistant infections affecting patients today.”
ATI-1501 has been granted orphan drug status by the FDA and Appili plans to take ATI-1501 into clinical trials in 2017. Appili’s second product, ATI-1503, is a novel antibiotic with broad potential to treat deadly Gram-negative infections.
