Durham drug developer Innocrin Pharmaceuticals has closed on $28 million in Series D financing to test a new therapy for difficult prostate and breast cancers.

Eshelman Ventures led the fully subscribed financing round and was joined by current investors Novartis Venture Fund, Lilly Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners and A&B Equity Holdings.

Innocrin is developing small-molecule inhibitors of CYP17 lyase, a key enzyme in certain cancers. Its leading drug candidate is VT-464, an oral medication intended to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer and hormonally dependent breast cancer.

“The significant amount of capital provided by new and current investors is a strong testament to the potential of VT-464 to provide benefit to the men and women with advanced prostate or breast cancer and who may have few therapeutic options left,” said William Moore, Ph.D., Innocrin’s chief executive officer.

Innocrin said it will use the new funding to accelerate parallel phase two castration-resistant prostate cancer studies led by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute. The company will also initiate a Sloan Kettering-led phase one/two study in women who have treatment-resistant breast cancer that either expresses the estrogen receptor or does not express any of the accepted treatment biomarkers (triple-negative breast cancer).

Innocrin said it believes CYP17 lyase inhibitors could also be used to treat non-cancer syndromes caused by hormonal excess, including endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Eshelman appointed to board

Innocrin also announced that Fred Eshelman, Pharm.D., founder of Eshelman Ventures, has joined its board of directors.

Innocrin “is a very exciting investment opportunity, and the company’s pipeline, particularly VT-464, will hopefully contribute to advances in treating difficult cancers,” said Eshelman, who is also the founder of Wilmington-based Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), one of the world’s largest contract research organizations with 13,500 employees in 46 countries.

“The board of directors and our investors are particularly pleased to have Fred join our board at this time, as his deep experience in pharmaceutical and corporate development will be invaluable as we advance our clinical and business objectives,” said Doug Reed, M.D., chairman of Innocrin’s board of directors. “The impending prostate and breast cancer clinical results, if positive, will provide Innocrin with multiple strategic opportunities.”

Innocrin was spun out of Durham-based Viamet Pharmaceuticals in October 2014. Viamet is a clinical-stage company that discovers and develops small-molecule therapies for the treatment of fungal infections.

(C) NC Bioctech Center