$18 million infusion to Myogen brings heart failure drug trials

WESTMINSTER — Late last year Myogen Inc., based in Westminster, raised $18 million in venture capital funding, bringing new hope to patients suffering from chronic heart failure.

Using their most recent round of financing, Myogen is working to bring Enoximone to patients and hospitals nationwide. Enoximone is Myogen’s one and only drug that combats congestive heart failure either through intravenous injections or oral administration.

“The drug increases the force of contractions in the heart.” Chief Executive Officer Bill Freytag said. “It is analogous to a lion jumping out in front of you and giving your heart sudden start.”

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Already passing test phases one and two, Enoximone is ready for phase three – an extensive, one-year test on 1,300 human patients who will receive low-dose, oral formulations of the drug. Clinical test phases one and two analyzed the pharmacological effects of the drug and performed “dose ranging” tests on animals.

Though Enoximone will not be available for widespread use in the United States for another three years, patients are allowed to take the drug on a program called “compassionate use.” Compassionate use is FDA-approved and reserved for patients who might otherwise not live without the experimental drug. The drug is available in Europe under its brand name Perfan I.V., and Myogen will submit its results for registration in Japan and Canada as well.

Over the past seven years at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s University Hospital, 105 patients have been given the Enoximone treatment, said Dr. Brian Lowes, director of the heart failure treatment program.

Four-year-old Myogen licensed the drug from a German company named Aventis – an international pharmaceutical Goliath.

With pharmaceutical companies merging like molecular compounds, Freytag said the market was ripe for purchasing and licensing new drugs. Because co-founder Dr. Mike Bristow specializes in heart failure out of the University of Colorado’s Health Sciences Center in Denver, Enoximone was a logical choice.

Freytag said the market’s continued success has peaked Myogen’s interest in at least two more drugs it plans to license and purchase in the near future.

Enoximone became Myogen’s keystone drug in 1998 as Sequel Venture Partners led the company’s first $6 million round of venture capital financing. Since then, other investors from blue chip investment firms on the East Coast have joined Myogen’s board in hopes of the new drug’s success, Freytag said.

Doctors working with the patients said Enoximone is meeting anticipated expectations.

“On the medicine, patients feel better and exercise better,” Lowes said. “This medicine will keep patients out of the hospital.”

Enoximone relieves symptoms of chronic heart failure such as shortness of breath and fatigue, he added.

And though nothing is ever certain in science, Freytag expects the FDA will approve the drug after the company demonstrates provable results in humans.

“We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think the drug would succeed,” Freytag said. “History will show that 20 to 30 percent of drugs do not succeed because this is science.”