Aerial BioPharma, a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Morrisville, N.C., has completed the second tranche of its $12 million dollar Series A financing.  The company has now raised $9.5 million, with the third and final tranche of the Series A to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013. 

The funding will allow the company to complete the phase IIb trial for ADX-N05, Aerial’s lead product for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy. After positive, phase IIa results for ADX-N05 in mid-2012, Aerial began enrolling the phase IIb trial in September. The company expects to complete the phase IIb trial and have the results in the second half of 2013.  The FDA Office of Orphan Products Development recently granted orphan designation for ADX-N05 for the treatment of narcolepsy.

"In addition to allowing us to advance our promising treatment for narcolepsy to phase III, the funding will be used to finish the IND enabling studies required for our novel biologic product, prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), which represents a completely new approach to the treatment of acute and chronic pain," said Moise Khayrallah, PhD, CEO of Aerial. Aerial plans to file the IND for PAP by the end of 2013.

Aerial is the third company from the management team led by Khayrallah, Steve Butts and Gary Bream, PhD, all privately held and located in the Research Triangle Park, N.C. area. Since launching Addrenex Pharmaceuticals in 2006, the team has raised and deployed over $30 million dollars for various drug development programs in central nervous systems conditions. Addrenex was acquired by Shionogi Pharma in November 2009 and Neuronex, the team's second company, was acquired by Acorda Therapeutics in 2012. With the closing of the second tranche, Aerial is well positioned to continue its strategy of moving products quickly and efficiently through the development process in order to meet the unmet needs of patients.