Sparrow Pharmaceuticals is looking to send its potential diabetes treatment soaring through clinical trials with the help of a $95 million series B, the company announced in a Sept. 24 release.
The round was led by RA Capital Management and Forbion, according to the release, with previous investors OrbiMed, RiverVest and US Venture Partners also chipping in.
The Portland, Oregon-based biotech will use the funding raised for an ongoing phase 2b trial of oral small molecule clofutriben in patients with Type 2 diabetes and excess cortisol.
Clofutriben is designed to inhibit an enzyme called HSD-1, which converts cortisone into cortisol, a hormone that can raise blood glucose levels. Elevated cortisol levels can make it more challenging to incite a treatment response from patients with Type 2 diabetes, Sparrow said in the release.
The double-blind CAPTAIN-T2D trial is set to read out results in 2027, according to the release.
“Elevated cortisol is now recognized as a key driver of disease progression and treatment resistance in millions of patients with Type 2 diabetes worldwide,” Robert Jacks, Sparrow resident and CEO said in a press release. “Our decision to focus on this patient population reflects a convergence of emerging biological insights, immense clinical opportunity and payer and clinician receptivity.”
Sparrow previously tested clofutriben in a phase 2 trial for endogenous Cushing's syndrome, a rare disorder caused by severe elevation of cortisol. The biotech had also studied the asset’s potential to treat hypercortisolism caused by benign adrenal tumors, but terminated the midstage trial after seeing no clinical benefit.
Not content with just advancing its sole asset in Type 2 diabetes, Sparrow is also exploring whether clofutriben, in combination with prednisone, can treat an inflammatory disease of the joints called polymyalgia rheumatica while also reducing the side effects of the corticosteroid.
Sparrow was founded in 2013 by David Katz, Ph.D., who previously spent close to two decades at Abbott Laboratories before hopping over to AbbVie. After first serving as Sparrow’s CEO, Katz is now chief scientific officer. The Oregon-based outfit previously secured a $50 million series A in May 2021.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 24 to clarify the current status of clofutriben clinical trials and revise disease information.