Dennis Purcell’s Aisling Capital and Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors have initiated new positions in Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA). In new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Aisling Capital disclosed owning 921,381 shares of Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA), representing 8.1% of its outstanding common stock. Meanwhile, OrbiMed Advisors, in a separate filing, reported a 9.99% stake in Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA), containing 1.22 million shares of the company. Both stakes are passive by nature.
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Aisling Capital is an early-stage investment fund with a focus on healthcare. Founded by Dennis Purcell, the fund has about $1.6 billion in assets under management (AUM). Prior to Aisling, Purcell served as managing director of the Life Sciences Investment Banking Group at Chase H&Q for over five years. Purcell also served as managing director in the healthcare group at PaineWebber. In its latest 13F for the March 31 reporting period, Aisling Capital disclosed a public equity portfolio valued at $764.2 million. The fund’s top holdings, in terms of value, were Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ESPR), Cempra Inc (NASDAQ:CEMP), and Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc (NASDAQ:ZLTQ).
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New York-based OrbiMed Advisors is a healthcare fund that invests in pharmaceutical and medical device companies in all stages of development. The fund, which has been investing in such healthcare-related private equities since 1993, focuses on healthcare-related opportunities in North America, Europe, India, China, and Israel. The market value of Orbimed’s public equity portfolio totaled $11.71 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2015. Its top holdings consist of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY), Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN).
Let’s take a look at Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA), a $197.4 million market cap specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of a sublingual thin filmstrip for the acute rescue of OFF motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. OFF episodes are a complication of Parkinson’s disease that leave patients rigid and unable to move and communicate. Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA) is conducting the CTH-300 clinical trial, a pivotal phase 3 study to examine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of APL-130277 for the acute treatment of OFF episodes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Last month, the company announced the enrollment of the first patient in the CTH-300 trial. The study objective is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of APL-130277 versus placebo in patients with PD. The 126 patients will each be observed for 12 weeks, with dosing at home and in clinic. The primary endpoint will be measured at week 12 in clinic and will be the mean change in the MDS-UPDRS Part III score at 30 minutes after dosing. The key secondary endpoint will be the percentage of patients who convert from the OFF to the ON state at or before 30 minutes of dosing with APL-130277 in clinic at the week 12 visit, Cynapsus said in a statement.
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Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYNA) recently completed its underwritten public offering of 5.18 million common shares at a price of $14.00 apiece. The company’s stock currently trades at $16.17. The offering came just a month after the company’s U.S IPO. Prior to its listing on the NASDAQ, it traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange from late 2007.
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