La Jolla Pharmaceutical Revives With $6M Financing

Bruce V. Bigelow5/26/10

Like a scene from a Monty Python skit, a San Diego biotech left for dead has announced plans for a new financing—and says it has revived interest in its experimental drug for treating Lupus of the kidneys. La Jolla Pharmaceutical halted work on the drug in early 2009.  In a statement yesterday, La Jolla Pharmaceutical disclosed plans to raise as much as $16.3 million to evaluate potential various opportunities, including Riquent, its drug for Lupus nephritis. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports today that La Jolla Pharmaceutical found institutional investors to commit up to $6 million toward efforts to restart its business. The biotech could not get enough shareholders to vote on a liquidation plan last year, and withdrew from a planned merger in March.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788