Sideris Pharmaceuticals

About Sideris Pharmaceuticals

Sideris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was a privately held biopharmaceutical company with operations in Boston, MA, and Gainesville, FL. The company was spun out of the University of Florida in 2013, building upon the drug discovery work of its founder, Professor Raymond Bergeron, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the university. Dr. Thomas Neenan also served as a founder and the company's Chief Technology Officer.

The firm's core focus was the development of therapeutics for transfusion-related iron overload, a condition where frequent blood transfusions lead to a toxic accumulation of iron in the body. Its principal asset was SP-420, an orally active small molecule designed to selectively bind with and remove excess iron. This iron-chelating agent, part of the desferrithiocin class, was licensed exclusively to Sideris from the University of Florida and showed a promising safety profile and high efficiency in animal studies.

In a significant milestone shortly after its inception, Sideris secured a $32 million Series A equity financing in October 2013. The round was led by MPM Capital and included Hatteras Venture Partners and Osage University Partners. Concurrently, Sideris entered into a strategic agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, granting Novartis the exclusive right to acquire Sideris and its lead drug, SP-420. The deal, encompassing upfront payments, acquisition, and milestones, had a potential value of up to $300 million. This capital and partnership structure was designed to finance a large Phase II clinical study of SP-420. However, a subsequent Phase I study was prematurely terminated by the sponsor due to renal adverse events observed in patients.