Viamet Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing small molecule metalloenzyme inhibitors to treat fungal diseases, withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Monday. On Tuesday, the company announced it had secured $60 million in Series D financing from Brandon Point Industries and Woodford Investment Management.
Viamet's lead drug candidate is focused on using metalloenzyme inhibitors and will soon be in Phase 2b trials for the treatment of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC), a mucosal infection, and onychomycosis, a nail infection. It will also begin Phase 2a proof of concept trials to target severe acute vulvovaginal candidiasis (AVVC; known as vaginal yeast infection) and athlete's foot, and has two more preclinical product candidates.
Primary shareholders include Novartis, Eli Lilly, Hatteras Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners, Ann Lurie and CEO Robert Schotzinger. Viamet has minor collaboration agreements with Novartis and Dow AgroSciences and has received a small amount of grant money from the National Institute of Health.
Highlighting challenges faced by companies like Viamet, the last six biotechs have ended their first day below the issue price, yet five have positive aftermarket trading.
The Durham, NC-based company was founded in 2004 and booked $2 million in collaboration revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2014. It had planned to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol VIAM. Piper Jaffray, Stifel and Wells Fargo Securities were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.
