Ardea raises $77.1 million in public offering
This article was originally published in Scrip
Ardea Biosciences completed a public offering, raising net proceeds of around $77.1 million. The US firm issued 3.5 million shares to investors at $20 each plus an additional 525,000 shares to the underwriter Jefferies & Company at $19.15 apiece.
Following the offering, Ardea appointed Stephen Davis as executive vice-president and chief operating officer. Previously, Mr Davis was president and CEO of Neurogen, which was acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals in December (scripnews.com, 22 December 2009).
The company was not available to comment on the intended use of the funds.
Earlier this month, Ardea's lead gout candidate RDEA594 met its primary endpoint in a Phase IIb monotherapy study for the treatment of hyperuricaemia in gout patients (scripnews.com, 8 April 2010). The drug is also being tested in combination with the hyperuricaemia drug allopurinol in a Phase IIb trial, with data due in the third quarter.
At the time, the firm's CEO and President Barry Quart said that Ardea planned to meet the regulatory authorities to discuss Phase III clinical development plans later in the year.
The drug is a metabolite of the company's antiretroviral RNA-directed DNA polymerase inhibitor RDEA806 and acts as a selective urate transporter 1 inhibitor (URAT-1). URAT-1 modulates the secretion of uric acid and RDEA594 acts to normalise the excretion levels.