Spinifex raises $48m for pain drug trials

Australia’s Spinifex Pharmaceuticals has raised US$45 million ($47.7 million) in investment funding to progress clinical trials of neuropathic pain drug EMA401.

Spinifex, a company spun out of the University of Queensland, has attracted Series C financing from institutional investors, including Dutch VC firm Novo A/S and US-based Canaan Partners.

Spinifex CEO Tom McCarthy said these companies are “two of the best-respected investors in global biotechnology”.

Existing investors GBS Venture Partners, Brandon Capital Partners, Uniseed and UniQuest also participated in the funding round.

The company will use the funds to accelerate its clinical program for EMA401, an oral treatment for neuropathic and inflammatory pain without central nervous system side effects.

These pain types are most commonly associated with chemotherapy, post-herpetic neuralgia, diabetes, peripheral nerve injury and osteoarthritis.

EMA401 was developed based on research from UQ’s Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Based on the research, Spinifex was founded by UQ’s main commercialisation company UniQuest in 2005.

EMA401 has been through a phase II clinical trial in post-herpetic neuralgia. The trial met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in mean pain intensity compared to a placebo, and EMA401 was found to be generally safe and well tolerated