Irish Iterum files for IPO on Nasdaq

The Dublin, Ireland-based company with a headcount of 29 was founded in 2015 and booked US$0.5m in revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2017. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ITRM. Iterum Therapeutics plc filed confidentially on February 2, 2018. 

Advent Life Sciences, Arix Bioscience, Bay City Capital, Canaan Partners and Sofinnova Ventures are among the company’s investors that so far provided about US$105m venture capital. The series B round roughly one year ago raked in US$65m. The IPO and series B proceeds taken together are destined to fund three Phase III trials of both oral and IV versions of Iterum’s candidate sulopenem.

Iterum is developing and commercialising sulopenem – potentially the first and only oral and intravenous (IV) branded penem available globally, the company claims. Sulopenem was licensed from Pfizer Inc. back in 2015. It is a potent, thiopenem antibiotic delivered intravenously which is active against gram-negative bacteria that cause urinary tract and intra-abdominal infections. Pfizer also developed an oral prodrug, sulopenem etzadroxil, which Iterum further enhanced with the addition of probenecid and combined into a single bilayer tablet, which is referred to as oral sulopenem. Both oral sulopenem and IV sulopenem have the potential to be important new treatment alternatives to address growing concerns related to antibacterial resistance without the known toxicities of some of the most widely used antibiotics, specifically fluoroquinolones.

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