Outpost Medicine, a US-based urologic and gastrointestinal disorder drug developer, has raised $20m from investors including pharmaceutical companies Novo and Takeda Pharmaceutical, expanding its series A round to $61m in the process.
Private equity firm Adams Street Partners and investment firms Frazier Healthcare Partners and Vivo Capital also contributed to the extension, with Takeda participating through its venture capital arm, Takeda Ventures.
Outpost was launched in March 2016 as a joint venture by Takeda and Frazier to develop treatments for urologic and gastrointestinal disorders, though it has discontinued work on its previous lead drug candidate, OP-233.
Novo, Frazier Healthcare, Adams Street Partners and Vivo Capital contributed to the $41m first tranche of the series A round, which was closed at the time of the company’s launch.
The funding will be used to develop a new candidate, OP-687, that could be used to treat overactive bladder (OAB) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
The company has appointed Scott Byrd as president and CEO, and he is replacing interim CEO David Socks, who co-founded Outpost in his role as a partner at Frazier.
Byrd said: “I am honoured to join Outpost and work with such a talented team to build a world-class urology and gastroenterology company.
“The combination of an outstanding clinical stage product candidate in OP-687, an experienced leadership team with deep therapeutic area expertise and premier life science investors ideally positions Outpost to bring novel treatments to patients suffering from OAB and IBS.”