Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Collegium collects $22.5M in new fundraise

By Patricia Resende, Correspondent

Late stage pharmaceutical company, Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc. has raised $22.5 million and named two new directors.

Longitude Capital and Skyline Ventures led the round of Series B investment in the Cumberland, R.I.-based business and two of its investors, David Hirsch and Stephen Hoffman, will join Collegium’s board of directors. Series A investors Boston Millenia Partners and Frazier Healthcare Ventures also participated in the round after investing $7 million into Collegium in July 2010.

Collegium will use the funds to continue its development of a tamper-resistant, extended release version of oxycodone called COL-003, for which it plans to file a New Drug Application (NDA) in 2013, the company announced in a news release Wednesday.

The company’s COL-033 product fills an unmet need for tamper-proof products that can address the ongoing “epidemic of prescription drug abuse,” Collegium CEO Michael Heffernan stated. Heffernan cited an Institute of Medicine report that showed that 116 million Americans suffer from chronic pain but are left undertreated or untreated because of the concern over the safety and abuse of opioids.

Collegium’s product had been granted fast-track status by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the product and in September 2011 it received a nod from the FDA to move the tamper-resistant product to Phase 3 clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of COL-033. 

Another product from the company also claims FDA fast-track status. Its COL-172 is intended to treat severe pain in patients who require constant opioid therapy for an extended period of time.