Aradigm Looking To Expand Via Agreements

The focus of US drug delivery system company Aradigm is in pulmonary drug delivery and its aim is to cooperate with the major companies that work in the areas of pain management, respiratory drugs and diabetes, said Rick Thompson, president of the company, in an interview with the Marketletter. Beyond this, he added, the firm takes a more opportunistic view with respect to biotechnology which offers a number of opportunities for the application of Aradigm's technology.

So far, said Mr Thompson, the company is venture-capital funded, and the money accumulated is being used for core technology development. Product development will be funded by partner companies, and so will not affect Aradigm's reserves, and ultimately a public offering of stock will be undertaken to support the expansion of the business. Mr Thompson noted that it is possible that the flotation of the company could happen as early as the end of 1995.

At present, he said, the company has just completed a round of cash financing and raised $7.8 million from its three initial investors (Sequia Capital, Technology Venture Investors and Brentwood Associates) and an additional investor, the Sprout Group. This brings the total investment to $12.6 million. Depending upon business development plans, he said, this should be sufficient to last through until the first half of 1996.