Hyperion raises $40 million

Hyperion (South San Francisco, Calif.) raised $40 million in a series B round led by Sofinnova Ventures. Highland Capital Partners; New Enterprise Associates (NEA); and WRF Capital also participated. Hyperion plans to use part of the funds to complete an Aug. 28 deal with Medicis (MRX) granting Hyperion U.S. co-promotion rights to Ammonul and Buphenyl, two approved drugs for urea cycle disorder (UCD). Ammonul is a combination sodium phenylacetate and sodium benzoate, and Buphenyl is an HDAC inhibitor. Hyperion also gained rights to research and develop GT4P, a pro-drug of phenylbutyrate in Phase I/II testing to treat UCD and Phase II testing to treat hepatic encephalopathy. ...