Diabetes drug developer Lumena raises $2.5M; compound regulates blood sugar

Diabetes drug developer Lumena raises $2.5M; compound regulates blood sugar

Diabetes treatment developer Lumena Pharmaceuticals has secured the $2 million it needs to start clinical trials and a little bit extra for good measure.

The company’s first round of investment was oversubscribed, leading to a haul of $2.5 million, according to amended filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lumena’s investors are venture capital firms Pappas Ventures and  RiverVest Venture Partners. The new capital means the company can proceed to human tests for its novel type 2 diabetes treatment, which aims to develop a pill to help patients regulate their blood sugar.

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Lumena was founded last year. The company is developing a new diabetes treatment based on the role bile acids play as signaling agents in the gastrointestinal tract. When Lumena launched its fundraising efforts last year, CEO Michael Grey explained that most gastric bypass surgery patients are type 2 diabetics. In 80 percent of those patients, blood glucose levels normalized within days — a change that’s not attributed to weight loss. What happened was that bile was diverted.

In normal gastrointestinal function, bile is recirculated. But gastric bypass surgery also bypasses that mechanism. The presence of bile in the GI tract triggers receptors that release Glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. Lumena’s treatment would work within the GI tract to stimulate the body’s production of GLP-1. Unlike other drugs that circulate through the bloodstream, the targeted action could offer fewer side and effects compared to other diabetes treatments.

Lumena’s technology comes from company co-founder Slava Gedulin, a former scientist at Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLN), a San Diego, California biotechnology company that develops diabetes and obesity treatments. Gedulin’s discovery came after he left Amylin and the company has no claims on Lumena’s technology.

Diabetes drug company Lumena raising up to $2M to reach clinical trials

 
June 24, 2011

Diabetes drug development company Lumena Pharmaceuticals aims to harness a benefit that diabetics receive from gastric bypass surgery and deliver it to those patients in the form of a pill.

The Durham, North Carolina-based company plans to start clinical trials on its experimental drug this year. To get there, Lumena has raised $500,000 in a round that could go up to $2 million with funding so far coming largely from Durham venture capital firm Pappas Ventures.

Diabetes drug company Lumena raising up to $2M to reach clinical trials

Diabetes drug development company Lumena Pharmaceuticals aims to harness a benefit that diabetics receive from gastric bypass surgery and deliver it to those patients in the form of a pill.

The Durham, North Carolina-based company plans to start clinical trials on its experimental drug this year. To get there, Lumena has raised $500,000 in a round that could go up to $2 million with funding so far coming largely from Durham venture capital firm Pappas Ventures.

Clues to how Lumena’s technology works come from the company’s name. Lumena is a reference to lumen, the inside of the intestines, said CEO Michael Grey, a pharmaceutical industry veteran and a venture partner and scientific advisory board member at Pappas Ventures. Grey said that most gastric bypass surgery patients are type 2 diabetics. Studies have found that in 80 percent of those patients, blood glucose levels normalized within days. It’s not a function of weight loss; something else is happening, Grey said.

That something else is the diversion of bile. While bile is a means for the body to process fats, it also acts as a signaling agent. In normal gastrointestinal function, most of the bile is recirculated. But gastric bypass surgery also bypasses that mechanism, Grey said. The bile in the GI tract triggers receptors that release glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar.

“What we set out to do is find a means to do this pharmacologically,” Grey said.

Lumena was founded in January. The technology, however,comes from a scientist who used to work at Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN), a San Diego, California biotechnology company that develops diabetes and obesity treatments. The scientist’s discovery came after he left the company and Grey said that Amylin has no claims on its technology. But one of the Lumena’s board members is Ted Greene, founder and former CEO of Amylin.

Grey said that Lumena’s drug could offer fewer side effects and potentially be safer than other diabetes treatments. Unlike other drugs that circulate through the bloodstream, Lumena’s treatment would work within the GI tract. It also does not introduce a chemical into the body, but rather stimulates the body’s natural GLP-1 production. The drug could be a medical breakthrough for diabetics. While there are drugs that work locally within the GI tract, there are currently no diabetes treatments that work this way.

“It’s really quite an innovative approach to treating diabetes and doing it through a means of a target located within the GI system,” Grey said.

The experimental drug has shown promising results in animal studies, preclinical work that started before the company was formed. Grey said Lumena’s goal is to start clinical trials on its diabetes drug candidate by the end of the year. In the first half of 2012, the company expects it would need to seek additional capital.

Pappas Ventures-Backed Lumena Pharma Bumps up Debt Offering to $2M - cbl

DURHAM -- Lumena Pharmaceuticals Inc. has secured $500,000 of its bumped-up debt offering to $2 million.

The Durham-based company, founded earlier this year, disclosed the higher amount in an SEC amended filing, after reporting in February the sale of debt worth $250,000 to two investors.

Principals named in the current filing are executive director Michael Grey, executive officer Ford Worthy and director Rosina Maar Pavia, all of Pappas Ventures, plus Frankfort, Mich.-based Ted Greene, chairman of Satiogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a scientist who holds several patents.

Founded in 1994, Pappas Ventures has more than $350 million in capital under management. The Durham-based firm has invested in more than 50 life sciences companies, including Cerexa (acquired by Forest Laboratories), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Syntonix (acquired by Biogen IDEC), NuVasive and Arena Pharmaceuticals.

Grey is a pharmaceutical industry veteran who previously led SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Auspex Pharmaceuticals. He is a member of Pappas Ventures' scientific advisory board and a venture partner.