RALEIGH – Marius Pharmaceuticals, which develops therapies to address testosterone deficiencies, raised a total of more than $6 million in equity funding since the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic, it disclosed in an amended SEC filing.
The filing comes a few weeks prior to the anticipated announcement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finished its review of the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for the oral testosterone softgel KYZATREX. That OK is anticipated to be at the end of October, the company noted in a post.
Marius has said it plans to launch the product immediately following approval. It also announced the published results of a study on the therapy in June.
Marius was formed in 2017 and four members of its seven-member executive team are former employees of GlaxoSmithKline.
Co-founder and co-CEO Himanshu H. Shah told the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in January that the company was prepared to grow “significantly” in 2021 in preparation for the launch of Kyzatrex. Shah also said in January 2021 that the company was considering taking the company public, including through an initial public offering, according to reporting by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
“Marius is focused on treating widespread conditions which have largely been caused by deficiencies in our endocrine system,” the company’s website reads. “Some of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in the US today have links to these deficiencies and due to the structural balances that must be achieved, optimal formulations are necessary to achieve effectiveness and safety.”
The company also disclosed that $2 million of the funding was raised “at a similar valuation” in 2020.
It plans to use the funding for working capital, which may include normal compensation to executive officers.
Testosterone treament advances at Raleigh pharma startup led by former GSK execs
