QuatRx Pharma draws $44M after pulling IPO
Ann Arbor, Mich., specialty pharmaceutical company QuatRx Pharmaceuticals raised $44 million in a fifth funding round following the withdrawal of its initial offering last July. Like the much better-known Jazz Pharmaceuticals, QuatRx acquires drugs from other companies in order to push them through clinical development, supposedly with a minimum of risk. That helps account for the fact that its first four drugs in human testing cover a grab-bag of conditions ranging from vaginal atrophy (don’t ask) and testosterone deficiency to the skin condition psoriasis to high cholesterol.
The round was led by Venrock. Also participating were new investors T. Rowe Price, Catella Healthcare, and Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Ten other existing investors also participated; for a full list, see the company’s release here.
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About the Author, David P. Hamilton
David Hamilton has been writing for VentureBeat LifeScience since April 2007. He formerly spent 14 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in its San Francisco and Tokyo bureaus. Prior to that, he spent several years as a reporter at Science Magazine and as a reporter/researcher for the New Republic, both in Washington.