DALLAS, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Cumbre Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced that on Sept. 28, 2007, the company secured significant capital financing. The new capital will allow the privately held biopharmaceutical company, which focuses on the discovery and development of antibacterial drugs, to concentrate on partnering its lead candidates and developing other drug candidates. The financing was provided by members of its existing investor base.
“We are pleased that our investors recognize the significant opportunity and advantage we have to develop and commercialize novel antibiotics, like CBR-2092, that address the critical unmet needs in combating chronic and hard-to-treat bacterial infections, especially those involving drug resistant strains,” said Michael Bakes, Acting President. “This financing will greatly enhance our ability to explore partnering opportunities for both CBR-2092 and our other research programs.”
This new financing comes from key industry icons. Dr. David Goeddel, a managing partner at The Column Group, is known as a pioneer for his work in the fields of gene cloning and expression of human proteins for therapeutics. Dr. Steven McKnight, Distinguished Chair in Basic Biomedical Research, Sam G. Winstead and F. Andrew Bell Distinguished Chair in Biochemistry and co-founder of Cumbre Pharmaceuticals and Tularik Inc., is also the chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center and guides the Department’s substantial growth in the disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics. William Rieflin, current president of Xenoport, Inc., is highly respected in the industry for his continuing contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences. Morton H. Meyerson, known for decades of business leadership, including as Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems and President of EDS, led the financing through his private investment firm, 2M Companies, Inc.
CBR-2092, an investigational drug of Cumbre, recently completed Phase 1 of clinical development. Cumbre is actively searching for a partner to further the clinical development of this novel drug. This drug has been uniquely optimized for its activity in killing multiply drug-resistant staphylococci in biofilm settings.
A series of poster presentations describing the non-clinical profile of CBR-2092, as disclosed at the 47th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy held in Chicago in September, are accessible via the Cumbre website http://www.cumbrepharma.com/researchdownloads.htm.
About Cumbre Pharmaceuticals
Cumbre Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focusing on developing anti-infective products for the treatment of serious and life-threatening bacterial infections, particularly those caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens. Cumbre’s strategy is to design, optimize and develop novel, multifunctional anti-infective drugs that target multiple inhibitory pathways. CBR-2092 is Cumbre’s most advanced multifunctional drug candidate and is a novel rifamycin-quinolone hybrid antibiotic that was optimized for its activity in killing staphylococci growing in the biofilm state. Based on its overall pre-clinical profile, Cumbre believes that CBR-2092 will address an unmet medical need by demonstrating superior activity in treating persistent infections that are refractory to current antibiotic therapies. Cumbre has completed two Phase 1 clinical studies on CBR-2092.
CONTACT: Michael Bakes of Cumbre Pharmaceuticals Inc., +1-214-631-4700,
Info@cumbrepharma.com
Web site: http://www.cumbrepharma.com/
