UK-based biotech company Protherics has raised £38 million, which will be split in a three-pronged move to expand its development pipeline in critical care and cancer.

If the deals are approved by shareholders, the company's biggest of the three moves will be to collaborate with Glenveigh Pharmaceuticals, located in North Carolina, in the US, to develop new drugs for the treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia affects between five and 8% of all pregnancies worldwide, and is a rapidly progressive condition characterised by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine.

If not diagnosed and treated in time, it can prove fatal. Pre-eclampsia and other hypertensive pregnancy disorders are estimated to cause 76,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Protherics, based in Brentwood, Essex, says the market for effective treatment of the two conditions could be worth around $5 billion per year in the US alone.

Glenveigh, formed in 2004, has an existing drug in a phase II study for pre-eclampsia and is developing diagnostic tests that will hopefully enable more rapid diagnosis and treatment of the condition.

Protherics is also buying  American company MacroMed, for $25 million to obtain its lead product, OncoGel, a novel sustained-release formulation of Bristol-Myers Squibb's paclitaxel (Taxol) for local administration in oesophageal and brain cancers.

A phase II study report on the drug for relief of difficult swallowing in oesophageal cancer is expected in the first half of 2007, followed by a phase IIb study later in the year.

The third Protherics acquisition will be the in-licensing and co-development of acadesine, a promising selective new treatment for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia developed by Barcelona-based biotech company Advancell.

A proof-of-concept phase I/II study in patients is planned to report during 2007.

Andrew Heath, chief executive of Protherics, said: "The three transactions substantially broaden our company's pipeline and strengthen its leadership position in polyclonal antibodies."

pharmafocus@wiley.co.uk