New Enterprise Associates Lead $33.9 Million Investment for Omthera Pharmaceuticals in Series C Funding Round

Based in Bedminster, New Jersey, Omthera Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company which develops innovative specialty pharmaceuticals has announced on March 14, 2011, that it has just raised $33.9 million in a funding round which was led by New Enterprise Associates. Other companies who participated in this funding round include the company’s existing investor, Sofinnova Partners.

Omthera Pharmaceuticals is a company which produces specialty pharmaceuticals for the clinical treatments of dyslipidemia and other diseases related to lipids in the body. Some of the other related diseases that Omthera Pharmaceuticals produces treatments for include hypertriglycemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and triglycerides. All these diseases can be a problem which needs treatment to manage.

Dyslipidemia is a disease that causes a disorder of lipid formation in the body. Typically, in the past, dyslipidemia was a term to cover a wide variety of metabolic blood lipid disorders under one umbrella. This is a flawed form of thought, because there are many different metabolic disorders which involve blood lipid disorders and they are all different from each other and thus require different treatments.

One of the most common lipid disorders is hypertriglycemia. This is a disorder in which is defined by the level of triglycerides in the blood stream. Typically, a normal count of triglycerides would be around 50 to 150 mg. Hypertriglycemia is an elevated level of triglycerides in the blood stream which can also lead to cardiovascular disease. The triglycerides are also known as “bad cholesterol” and when the levels reach over 500 mg, patients can suffer coronary arterial disease or pancreatitis. According to the latest estimates by health officials worldwide, the prevalence of hypertriglycemia in the West is close to 30%. This can be caused by a high fat diet or can also be hereditary or a combination of the two.

Dyslipidemia is also a metabolic blood lipid disorder that can indicate either a very low consistency of lipids in the bloodstream or a very high consistency of lipids in the bloodstream. The lipids measured in the testing for dyslipidemia include cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids. The lipids are carried in the bloodstream in the blood plasma. If these lipids are excessively elevated, the risk of artery blockage and cardiovascular disease is increased. Furthermore, a very low lipid count can also result in other imbalances in the body and other related health issues.

Mixed dyslipidemia is very similar to dyslipidemia in that it is a metabolic imbalance of lipids in the bloodstream. In this case, many patients who have mixed dyslipidemia have elevated levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream and need medications to treat the condition.

Triglycerides are the most common lipid in the bloodstream. These lipids are typically fats that come into the bloodstream from food intake. Typically, people who eat a high fat diet will have an elevated level of triglycerides in the body.

The object of Omthera Pharmaceuticals is to develop revolutionary drugs to treat these conditions. Currently the company has developed two drugs to help treat the above mentioned disorders undergoing clinical trials. The first is Epinova. Epinova works by being ingested by mouth after a high fat meal. The recommended dose is 4 grams of Epinova after eating a high fat meal. As the drug enters the body, it works to dissolve the fats. The object of the trial is to see how the drug works in both a high and low fat diet.

The other drug undergoing clinical trials is Evolve, which is currently in Phase III of clinical trials to treat patients with excessively high levels of triglycerides in the body. The clinical trial is expected to enroll 300 patients who have triglyceride levels that exceed 500 mg.

Proceeds from this funding round will go to finance the current clinical trials of the cholesterol reducing drugs that Omthera has been developing. With this latest funding round included, Omthera Pharmaceuticals has amassed a total of over $40.4 million in capital since it has begun operating in 2009.

According to the president, cofounder, and CEO of Omthera, Jerry Wisler, the company has been continuing to show positive data in the lipid reducing drugs it has been producing to treat dyslipidemia and other cholesterol related disorders. Mr. Wisler further added that the executive team of the company is very excited to have such a prestigious venture capital firm, such as New Enterprise Associates join the company’s group of investors.

As part of the agreement of this funding round, David M. Mott will join Omthera Pharmaceuticals board of directors. Along with being a general partner of New Enterprise Associates, Mr. Mott was also the CEO of MedImmune prior to joining the prominent vc firm. Mr. Mott has over 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry. 16 of those 20 years, Mr. Mott spent at MedImmune. At New Enterprise Associates, Mr. Mott oversees and participates in all the bio-pharmaceutical investments of the firm.

Mr. Mott added that he was very pleased to join the four-member board of Omthera and stated that he strongly believes in the company’s value. Mr. Mott also stated that there is an unmet need in the pharmaceutical industry for new drugs to effectively treat elevated blood lipids, such as triglycerides and in effective treatments of many of the common lipid metabolic disorders, such as dyslipidemia, hypertriglycemia, and mixed dyslipidemia. Furthermore, data from the company’s clinical trials tends to show promising data in the new drug, Epanova in the treatment of high lipid patients.

New Enterprise Associates or NEA is a large scale and prestigious venture capital firm which invests in companies who are in the IT, healthcare, and energy technology industries. NEA is a global venture capital firm with offices in the United States, China, and India. The firm invests in promising companies who are in a wide variety of stages. Currently, NEA has $11 billion of committed capital under its management and since its inception has invested in over 650 companies. Some other companies in NEA’s portfolio include 3Com, 3Ware, Antenna Software, Argon Networks, 3-V Biosciences, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Acorn Cardiovascular, BioPure, Bravo Health, and others.

Based in Paris, France, Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm which primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the life sciences and tech industries. The firm was founded in 1972 and has over €1.1 billion ($1,539,369,350.83 USD) of committed capital under its management. Some other companies in Sofinnova’s portfolio include Twenga, OpenERP, Bee Ware, Sage Wireless, Digital Media INC, Coaxia, Stentex, SpineVision, and others.