Pill for low testosterone in men heads for phase II clinical trials

Name of Company: TesoRx Pharma

Industry: Pharmaceuticals

City, State: Menlo Park, California

Money Raised: $5.9 million of a $6.6 million offering, according to a SEC filing. The company raised an undisclosed Series A in 2010.

How will it be used: TesoRx held its first pre-IND meeting with the FDA in March 2011 and recently completed Phase I trials. Its now headed for phase II trials, according to a company rep.

Investors: undisclosed

Management team: CEO/co-founder TR Thirucote was vice president of pharmaceutical sciences at Roxro Pharma, which developed a nasal spray for use in post operative pain treatment and was acquired by Luitpold Pharmaceuticals in 2010. With co-founder/CSO Guru Betageri and co-founder Will Roberts, he runs TesoRx as a virtual company that licenses compounds from small and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies and commercializes them.

Market size: The estimated prevalence of hypogonadism varies by study, depending on age groups tested and what testosterone level is considered normal. TesoRx says about 9 million men in the U.S. are affected by low testosterone which can cause sexual dysfunction, depression and increased body fat although only 10 percent of them receive treatment.

Increasing off-label use of testosterone replacement drugs has caused some controversy in recent years and has likely contributed to the rising sales of testosterone replacement therapies, which hit $1.6 million in 2011, according to Bloomberg data.

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Pill for low testosterone in men heads for phase II clinical trials

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