WOODCROSS, Utah & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Phoenix PharmaLabs, Inc. (https://phoenixpharmalabs.com), a private company developing what is believed to be the world’s first non-addictive opioid for treatment of moderate to severe pain, today announced a successful equity offering of more than $1.1 million via Netcapital (https://netcapital.com), an SEC-approved equity funding portal. A combination of accredited and non-accredited investors participated in the offering, which commenced October 11, 2018 and closed March 30, 2019.
“This very positive response to our offering, coupled with a $2.7 million grant awarded by the US Army last year, enables Phoenix to accelerate completion of our preclinical studies and scale-up of manufacturing of PPL-103. As a result, we anticipate filing an Investigational Drug Application (IND) with the FDA within approximately 15 months. When approved it will enable us to enter Phase I human clinical trials,” said William Crossman, president and CEO of Phoenix PharmaLabs.
Jackson Stone, Director of Business Development from Netcapital, commented, “The success of Phoenix PharmaLabs’ offering demonstrates the significant interest among the investing public in finding solutions to real world problems, such as combating the opioid crisis. Many Phoenix investors included physicians, nurses and pharmacists who appear to understand the pharmacological need for safe, non-addictive analgesics as well as individuals who have personally been affected by the devastation of the opioid crisis. Phoenix is the first offering on the Netcapital portal to fully max out their yearly Section 4(a)(6) allocation of $1.07M to non-accredited investors, which further illustrates the phenomenal success of the Phoenix asset and team in this offering.”
Crossman said the company will soon commence Non-Human Primate (NHP) studies (which will include efficacy studies as well as further studies of abuse/addiction potential). Earlier in vivo studies have all indicated that PPL-103 performs exceptionally well and appears to be safe and non-addicting, with none of the side effects normally associated with opioids. Previous self-administration studies in rats have demonstrated that PPL-103 is non-addictive and those studies correlate very closely to equivalent studies in humans.
PPL-103, a partial-agonist targeting all three pain receptors in the brain (mu, kappa and delta), has been under development for more than a decade. All opioids on the market today bind to the mu receptor in the brain and then aggressively stimulate that receptor. The mu receptor produces euphoria that leads to abuse and addiction. PPL-103 is an analog that binds strongly to all three opioid receptors in the brain and then just partially stimulates each of those receptors in a more balanced manner. This partial simulation derives potent analgesic benefit from all three receptors but is not sufficiently strong to produce the serious opioid side-effects associated with any single receptor. This results in the first-ever opiate analgesic that appears to be non-addicting and free of all dangerous side effects.
In published and unpublished in vivo studies, it has been demonstrated that PPL-103 is:
- An orally active potent pain killer (10x more potent than morphine)
- Does not cause death from overdose (even when given 350x the analgesic dose)
- Does not cause physical dependence or withdrawal
- Does not cause constipation (even at 100x dose)
- Has demonstrated potential as an opioid addiction therapy drug that could replace currently used treatments that are themselves addictive opioids.
- Has demonstrated in early trials the potential as a treatment for cocaine addiction.
Netcapital is a private securities platform that makes capital markets work for real people. The portal connects investors to entrepreneurs to help private companies grow. Netcapital enables companies to raise capital by selling common stock to investors, thereby empowering emerging companies to raise capital through investment opportunities to the public. The Netcapital funding portal is registered with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a registered national securities association, as required by SEC rules.
In this press release, Netcapital refers to Netcapital.com, a website operated by Netcapital Systems, LLC, which is neither a funding portal nor a broker-dealer. Sections of the web site are operated by Netcapital Funding Portal, Inc., which conducts all 4(a)(6) offerings as a funding portal registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Sections of the web site are operated by Livingston Securities, LLC, which conducts all 506(c) offerings as a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. None of these companies provide investment advice or make investment recommendations; nothing shared in this press release nor posted to the web site should be construed as such.
Phoenix PharmaLabs is a preclinical drug discovery company focused on the development and commercialization of new potent, non-addictive treatments for pain and new therapies for the treatment of addiction.