by monica chen

mchen@heraldsun.com; 419-6636

DURHAM -- Chimerix Inc. has raised its fifth round of financing, to the tune of $16.1 million, that would enable the 7-year-old private biotechnology company to develop its lead product and take its pipeline of antiviral drugs to commercial development.

The Series E round of financing for the Durham-based company was an inside round, with existing investors Canaan Partners, Alta Partners, Sanderling Ventures and Asset Management Co.

George Painter, the company's CEO, said in a statement that the funding will enable the company to drive forward clinical development, including the "potential partnering with leading pharmaceutical companies."

Kenneth Moch, the company's new chief of operations, said the company is looking at various pathways for development. "It may be to partner, it may be to keep it for ourselves," he said. "There's no talk of taking the company public."

The financing primarily will be used to develop Chimerix's lead drug candidate, CMX001, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that's also an oral therapy for smallpox and for treating complications resulting from smallpox vaccinations. CMX001 has been under development since the company's founding in 2002 and has been processed through Phase 2 clinical trials.

In addition, Chimerix expects to advance CMX157, an anti-HIV drug, into Phase 1 clinical development and to continue work on compounds with effects on a variety of viral diseases, including hepatitis C.

"We believe that this financing will enable the Chimerix team to continue doing what they do best -- identify, optimize and develop important new antiviral medicines that address significant therapeutic markets and may prove valuable in our nation's biodefense strategy," said Seth Rudnick of Canaan Partners and co-chairman of the Chimerix's Board of Directors.

Moch said the company will progress CMX001 in Phase 2 clinical testing for immunally compromised patients in 2009 and 2010. The company will also bring CMX157 to human clinical testing and identify lead compounds for hepatitis C.

The company raised $36.1 million in its Series A round back in 2003 and since then has been ratcheting up investment dollars, raising more than $86 million to date.